Built in 1956, Nipponzan Myohoji stands as a symbol of peace and brotherhood amid the chaos of a busy Worli street. While the inner sanctum houses a brilliant white marble statue of the Buddha, the main prayer hall offers a rainbow-coloured tour of the Buddha's life, painted with natural vegetable dye, with Japanese inscriptions written high on the walls of the shrine.
Twice a day, believers gather around a huge Japanese drum, to chant the temple’s mantra – Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō ('devotion to the law of the Lotus Sutra'), an expression of determination to embrace the principles of Nichiren Buddhism. Today, the temple is managed and maintained by some of the city’s leading philanthropists, the Birla Family.
