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SALT LAKE CITY — Less than three weeks after President Russell M. Nelson announced that the first Latter-day Saint temple would be built in India, he stood before a large congregation of members in Bengaluru.
“Our plans were to announce six new temples at (general) conference time. The Lord told me on the eve of conference: ‘Announce a temple in India,’” he said. “That was the Lord’s doing.”
The Bengaluru India Temple was one of seven temples announced during The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ semiannual general conference in April 2018. President Nelson toured possible sites for the temple during his time in India, and now, the church has released a rendering and location site for the new building.
The 38,670-square-foot temple will be constructed on a 1.62-acre area at 2-B, Garudachar Palya, Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka — in the south of the world’s second most-populated country.
Church offices and a meetinghouse that are currently located on the property will be removed to prepare for the construction. The temple, a two-level meetinghouse, new church offices, a distribution center, housing for patrons and new housing for the temple president, as well as temple missionaries and the mission president, will be built on the site.
Detailed plans for the temple are still in the works, and more information will be made public later once project leaders begin working with local government officials on the permit and design approval process. A groundbreaking date has not yet been set.
India is currently home to 14,000 members in 45 congregations. There are 1.2 million Latter-day Saints in Asia. The closest temple to Bengaluru is the Bangkok Thailand temple, which is currently under construction. Operating temples closest to the Indian city are in the Philippines and Taiwan.
To faithful Latter-day Saints, temples are holy houses of worship where only members who keep certain standards may enter. Inside, they make promises with God and participate in sacred ceremonies they believe will unite families forever.
