ISKCON Temple, Juhu

This guide to the ISKCON Temple in Juhu, Mumbai follows a Hare Krishna land deal gone wrong in the early 1970s, when the property dealer who sold four acres near the beach tried to take it back. It centers on Prabhupada, the movement's elderly founder, who made a direct promise to the temple's deities as demolition crews and police closed in, then spent years fighting the seller in court while devotees flew in from abroad to help. Western followers who joined that fight went home exhausted, and lawyers argued the case in circles for years. Notice the marble domes rising above the walkway to the Arabian Sea.