AHMEDABAD: You can call it one way of bridging the gap between god and science. An NRG from the UK has helped install an ice shivling made out of thin air at the Mankameshwar Paradeshwar Mahadev temple in Valetva village on Changa-Nadiad Road.

The technology uses liquid nitrogen and ice and has been developed by Shreelal Jha of the department of physics at Sardar Patel University . Praful Patel (58), who was in the real estate business in London, says the shivling can stay in its frozen form for a long period.

“I have used an air-conditioning compressor for freezing the shivling uniformly. It attracts moisture from air and makes a uniform layer of white ice (translucent ice) on the ice shivling,” says Jha.

“The settled ice is controlled from becoming transparent (hard ice) because if ice becomes transparent it will not look like Amarnath shivling,” added Jha. The cost of keeping the shivling in the frozen form comes to around Rs 3,200 per month.

The three-ft high shivling with a 1.3 feet diameter can withstand an open environment as long as it is in a soundproof environment. Jha has used eco-friendly material for soundproofing. The total cost of installing the shivling is Rs 1.25 lakh.

“I have made this temple in remembrance of my parents,” says Patel, who recently retired from his business and comes to his home near Nadiad at least four times a year. The temple authorities are planning to shift the shivling to a replica of the Amarnath cave which is being planned nearby.

Every year more than 50,000 pilgrims from Gujarat visit the holy shrine in Amarnath to pay obeisance to ‘Barfani Baba’ (ice shivling). Back home, an NRG from the UK has created a similar experience for the devout.