San Leandro, Calif. — A new app just released for iOS lists more than 2,000 Hindu temples in some 50 countries.
The “World’s Best Hindu Temples Directory,” available on iTunes, was conceived by Hari Iyer, an aviation engineer in Melbourne, Australia. A team of dedicated volunteers around the world have been working for months to compile and confirm the information, said Iyer.
“The iOS app is a priced at $1.99, which will help fund further development of the site and mapping of all the large temples in India,” Iyer said in a statement.
“Future plans also include an Android App which is in the making, and a massive update to the database with over 2,000 Hindu temples in Malaysia to be added soon.”
Optimized for the iPhone 5, the app requires iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The information is also available at AllHinduTemples.com, a site he said was mobile-responsive and designed to geolocate to the user’s closest temples.
One can also search by sect (such as ISKCON) or zip code, said Iyer, but when anIndia-West reporter ran a trial search for “Vedanta temples in 90036,” results came up only in Santa Cruz, Calif., and Seattle.
Visitors can register to upload photos and comments to the temple listings, or upload religious events on a calendar in wiki format. Temple managers can claim the ownership of the temple listing and update it with whatever details they choose, said Iyer. Although the app costs $1.99 to download on iOS, he said, the desktop site “will always remain free and neither temples nor visitors would have to pay to visit or add temple details.”
This is one devout entrepreneur who saw a problem and brainstormed a solution. “Have you ever driven all the way to a temple’s doors and found it is closed for the afternoon, or wondered on a birthday or some other auspicious time which is the nearest temple to your house? Next time there is an occasion to go to a temple, wonder no more because now there is an app for that!” he told India-West in an e-mail.