Barefoot devotees paused Saturday, palms joined in prayer before shrines dedicated to each of the 21 embodiments of God in the worship hall of the new Hindu Temple of Minnesota.

Behind them, children played, friends chatted and non-Hindu visitors -- also barefoot -- gazed at sculptures and intricate decorations inspired by temples in Calcutta, Puri, Puram and other cities in India.

Today is the culmination of a weekend of celebration at the Maple Grove temple, the largest in the United States, and the only one in the world to cater to such a diverse set of beliefs.

After a procession around the temple's elliptical drive, community leaders will affix nine golden pinnacle caps to the top of the 65-foot-high Raja Gopura, a multi-layered archway that marks the entrance to the temple. Several symbolically blessed icons will be set in the places leaders hope they'll occupy for 100 years or more.

Saturday clearly was a day for community; men in linen and silk tunics and women in colorful, gold-spangled saris mingled in the worship hall and over tables in the curry-scented cafeteria.

Some climbed the 101 steps to the top of the Raja Gopura to place rose petals in each of the nine kum- bhas, or pinnacles. It was a one-time opportunity, said Hindu Society President Mythili Chari, to participate in the consecration of the temple.

Many community members wore orange, a color symbolizing the renunciation of worldly objects and a quest for enlightenment, said Dr. Shashikant Sane, former chairman of the Trustee Executive Council of the Hindu Society of Minnesota, and one of its founders.

At the center of the worship hall lay half a dozen sculptures, still in the stages of a blessing with purified water, rice, yogurt, honey and milk. They'll be washed, oiled and put in their places today.

Decorative work will continue on the temple's exterior and gardens, but for devotees, this weekend is the culmination of more than 25 years of work and prayer.

Mangala Pai, of Shorewood, was selling raffle tickets on Saturday, part of a fund-raiser to try to settle the temple's remaining $6.3 million construction debt.

She remembers gathering with other Hindus, first in people's homes, then in a church in northeast Minneapolis, and only being able to describe with words for her children the temples she visited in India. Now she's looking forward to taking her 4-year-old grandson to see the shrine to his favorite deity, Lord Hanuman.

"I get goosebumps hearing the bells and the chanting," she said. "I get tears in my eyes."

Hindus believe in many representations of the same God. Which deities a person worships depends on family tradition, where he or she is from, or personal philosophies, Sane said.

The 43,000-square-foot temple was built big not to be physically imposing, but to make it inclusive of as many beliefs as possible.

Sane pointed to a beaded necklace on someone nearby. The faith is like the necklace, he said; each bead is different, but they are linked together on the same thread. Having all of the major deities enshrined under the same roof allows local Hindus to worship as they wish without having to travel in harsh Minnesota weather conditions.

And Sane said he hopes that openness will translate to relations with people of other faiths, noting that the temple is visible from nearby Interstate 94. "So even if they are unable to come to the temple," he said, "they can connect themselves just by looking at the pinnacle."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409