“I wake up every morning and scratch my eyes thinking, ‘Am I still in central New Jersey?’” said Yogi Trivedi, a temple volunteer and a scholar of religion at Columbia University.

But it made headlines a decade later, when a group of immigrant laborers sued global organization Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, which has temples around the world.

Many of the manual laborers involved in the temple’s construction came to New Jersey from India on religious visas and were Dalits, meaning they fell into historically marginalized groups in South Asia’s caste system.

But the lawsuit has now been put on hold, with 12 of the original 21 plaintiffs moving to dismiss their claims, and BAPS Akshardham spokespeople assure that the temple will be a place for people of all creeds and castes to gather in community.

Placing 2 million cubic feet of stone in Robbinsville Township was no small feat, Trivedi said, and the temple itself is a cultural mixture, with materials sourced from all over the world and nods to American history throughout.

There were some concerns from local residents, including about the height of the temple, but BAPS worked with community members and officials to make accommodations, Trivedi said.

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