Iraivan Temple, Hindu temple in Kauai County, United States

Iraivan Temple is a Hindu sanctuary in Kauai County, built from white granite blocks hand-carved in India and shipped across the Pacific to Hawaii. The stones were fitted together without mortar, and each element locks precisely into its intended position so that the structure holds by its own weight.

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami envisioned the temple on February 15, 1975, and required it be built without machinery. In 1990 two swamis provided eleven acres near Bangalore, where 75 carvers hand-cut over 4,000 granite blocks; shipping to Kauai began in 2001. Consecrated in 2023 after 33 years, it used about 3.2 million pounds of granite.

The name comes from the term Iraivan, meaning the Supreme Lord in Hinduism, and the sanctuary serves Hindu worshippers as a place of prayer on the island. The outer walls show carvings from the Tamil tradition that depict the god Siva in different forms and remain visible to visitors.

Visitors should check the rules of conduct in advance, as this is an active place of religious worship. Access is usually restricted to certain areas, and wearing appropriate clothing is expected.

The main murti is a spathika Sivalinga, a pointed, six-faced 700-pound clear quartz crystal. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami saw it in dreams in the early 1980s, found it in 1987 and brought it to Kauaʻi. Estimated at 50 million years old, it was found intact in mud rather than cut from rock, and is revered as representing the element akasha.