About this stamp
On the Stamp
Pramukh Swami Maharaj in saffron robes. The ₹5 stamp of the pair issued on 7 December 2016.
Akshardham and Pramukh Swami Maharaj
India Post issued two stamps, printed together as a pair, on 7 December 2016, the birth anniversary of Pramukh Swami Maharaj: ₹5 for Pramukh Swami Maharaj and ₹15 for the Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi. Akshardham, on the banks of the Yamuna, was opened in November 2005. Its temple, 141 feet high, 316 feet wide and 356 feet long, is built of marble and pink sandstone and carved with pillars, statues, elephants, swans and lotuses; around it are exhibition halls, a boat ride through India’s history, a water show based on the Kena Upanishad, and gardens.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj
Akshardham was built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, led for seven decades by Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Born Shantilal Patel on 7 December 1921 at Chansad near Vadodara, he was initiated in 1939 by his guru Shastriji Maharaj as Sadhu Narayanswarupdas, and was revered as a humble, selfless spiritual leader and an advocate of world peace. He died in 2016.
The stamps were designed by Alka Sharma; Security Printing Press, Hyderabad printed 350,230 of each.
