The building had been planned since 1968 as a vision of Yogiji Maharaj. Yogiji Maharaj, the spiritual head of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha at the time, expressed his desire for wanting a grand temple built on the banks of the Yamuna river to two or three devotee families of Swaminarayan that resided in New Delhi at the time. Attempts were made to start the project, however little progress was made. In 1971, Yogiji Maharaj died.

In 1982, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj's successor as the spiritual head of BAPS, started to continue fulfilling the dream of his guru Yogiji Maharaj and prompted devotees to look into the possibility of building the temple in Delhi. A request for the plan was put forward to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and several different places were suggested, including Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, and Faridabad. Pramukh Swami Maharaj stood firm in following the wishes of Yogiji Maharaj to build a temple on the Yamuna.

In April 2000, after 18 years, the Delhi Development Authority offered 24 hectares (60 acres) of land, and the Uttar Pradesh Government offered 12 hectares (30 acres) for the project. Upon receiving the land, Pramukh Swami Maharaj performed puja on the site for success in the project. Construction on the temple began on 8 November 2000 and Akshardham was officially opened on 6 November 2005, with the building being completed in two days short of five years.
An amendment to the Government of India's Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 1994 was made in 2004, which required that environmental clearance be granted to any parcel of land that falls under the Yamuna floodplain before beginning any construction activities. Since Akshardham commenced construction activities in 2000, prior to the enactment of this amendment, it did not apply to Akshardham. However certain NGOs and activists felt that the temple was constructed without obtaining the necessary environmental clearances. In January 2005, the U.P. Employees Federation presented their case before the Supreme Court of India that the temple had not obtained necessary environmental clearances and that it would be harmful to the environment. After hearing the case, the Supreme Court observed that in the construction of Akshardham, all the Land Use Plans had been adhered to and clearance of expert bodies like the Central Water Commission and the National Environment Engineering Research Institute has been obtained. Thus, the Supreme Court ruled that the Akshardham construction was lawful and did not violate environmental norms. Despite this ruling, some activists and politicians continued to assert that the Akshardham construction was illegal and posed a threat to the Yamuna River floodplains. In a 2009 ruling on a related issue, the Supreme Court further clarified that it rejected as false th…

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On 17 December 2007, Michael Whitty, an official world record adjudicator for Guinness World Record, travelled to Ahmedabad, India to present a new world record to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, for the Akshardham complex.

The record was presented for Akshardham as the World's Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple at that time (certificate).

The certificate states,

"BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi, India, is the world's largest comprehensive Hindu temple. It measures 109 m (356 ft). long, 316 ft (96 m). wide and 43 m (141 ft). high, covering an area of 8,021.4 m (86,342 sq ft). The grand, ancient-style, ornately hand-carved stone temple has been built without structural steel within five years by 11,000 artisans and volunteers. Pramukh Swami, revered spiritual leader of BAPS, consecrated the temple on 6 November 2005. Akshardham showcases the essence of India's ageless art, borderless culture and timeless values.

Upon presentation of the award, Michael Whitty stated, "It took us three months of research, poring over the extensive architectural plans of the Akshardham and also those of other temples of comparable size, visiting and inspecting the site, before we were convinced that Akshardham deserved the title..."

However, there are now several temples, topped by Angkor Wat in Cambodia ; Akshardham, New Jersey in the U.S.; and the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, India - which claim to be larger than Akshardham Delhi. The trustees of the Srirangam Temple have reportedly disputed the Guinness World Record.

• Swaminarayan Akshardham (Gandhinagar)
• Swaminarayan Akshardham (New Jersey)