UAE residents make a beeline to get first glimpse of Dubai's new Hindu temple

Thousands of UAE residents are making a beeline to get the first glimpse of the new Hindu temple in Dubai after its soft opening earlier this month.

The temple, which will be officially open to the public from October 5 -- the day of the Dussehra festival, welcomes people of all faiths and has allowed entry to worshippers and other visitors for viewing the 16 deities and other interior works, the Gulf News reported on Sunday (11).

The soft opening of the temple was held on September 1 with the temple management activating the QR-code based appointment booking system via its website.

From day one, the temple has been receiving a large number of visitors, especially over the weekends. The restricted entry has been regulated through QR-coded appointments for crowd management and to ensure social distancing, the report said.

The temple is open from 6.30 am to 8 pm. Appointments for most weekends till the end of October have already been booked. The booking system will continue till the end of October after which members of the public will be free to visit the temple any time during its opening hours.

The only activity that is currently being done is the chanting of Vedic shlokas by a group of 14 pandits, who have specially come over from India. This takes place every day from 7.30 am to 11 am and again from 3.30 pm till 8.30 pm local time. Visitors are allowed to take part in the chants.

Majority of the deities are installed in the main prayer hall that has a large 3D-printed pink lotus unfurling across the central dome.

Located in what is described as the 'Worship Village' in Jebel Ali that houses several churches and the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara, the temple has also installed the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs, in August.