Ayodhya’s grand tryst with faith, history today

The entire world’s eyes will be on a rejuvenated Ayodhya when the living faith of millions keeps tryst with history to rejoice at the long-awaited Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla’s idol at the newly-built Ram Janmabhoomi temple in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 8,000 special invitees here on Monday.
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Expressing confidence that the “historic moment” will enrich Indian heritage and culture, the Prime Minister said it will take the country’s development journey to new heights. He made the comment in a post on X on the eve of the ceremony after President Droupadi Murmu, in a two-page letter, complimented him and said the nationwide celebratory atmosphere around the inauguration of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is an uninhibited expression of India’s eternal soul and the start of a new cycle in the country’s resurgence.
In her letter, Murmu also referred to the 11-day rigorous ‘anushthan’ the Prime Minister has undertaken, and said that it is not only a sacred ritual but also a supreme spiritual act of sacrifice and submission to Lord Ram.
“…. as you prepare yourself to go for ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Prabhu Shri Ram’s ‘murti’ (idol) at the new temple built at his birthplace in Ayodhya, I can only contemplate the unique civilisational journey that will be accomplished with each step taken by you in the hallowed precincts,” she said.
Tagging the President’s letter, Modi said in his post, “Honorable @rashtrapatibhvn ji, Thank you very much for your good wishes on the auspicious occasion of Ram Lalla’s consecration in Ayodhya Dham.”
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The Prime Minister will participate in the consecration ceremony and will address a gathering present for the occasion, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
When the much-anticipated occasion arrives at 12.20pm, the ancient temple town will erupt with joyous sounds of conch shells, flower showers and ‘mangal-dhwanis (joyous tunes)’. The celebrations will echo across the country and in parts of the world too as it is at this precise moment that the consecration ceremony of “five-year-old Ram Lalla (child Ram)” will begin in the presence of the guests – the country’s best – and representatives of 50 nations.
Modi who, along with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, is credited for giving the ancient city a stirring makeover as well as Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat will present ‘manobhav (feelings)’ on the momentous occasion after the veil from 150-kilogram stone deity’s eyes is lifted at the consecration event, a 40-minute affair, to symbolise the infusion of the life force in Ram Lalla’s idol at his grand abode, a magnificient stone marvel.
The Prime Minister will also interact with ‘shramjeevis’ (workers) associated with the construction of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir. He will also visit the Kuber Tila, where an ancient Shiv temple has been restored. He will also perform ‘pooja’ and ‘darshan’ at the restored temple, the PMO statement said.
For his part, Vishwa Hindu Parishad working president Alok Kumar said to journalists: “The Prime Minister and other ‘yajman’ (hosts) will open the veil on the eyes of the Ram Lalla idol in the “Abhijeet Muhurat” (auspicious time) at 12.20pm on Monday as part of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.”
This day was being awaited for 500 years, he said.
Hours before the ceremony, Acharya Satyendra Das, the head priest of Ram Lalla temple, moved the Ram Lalla Virajman (old idol) from the makeshift temple within the Ram Janmabhoomi complex to the sanctum sanctorum of the newly-built Ram Mandir after completing ‘Vedic’ rituals on Sunday night.
Setting the stage for the grandeur of the event, two helicopters of the Indian Air Force dropped flowers over the Ram Temple on Sunday in a rehearsal earlier in the day.
They will again fly over the Ram temple on Monday to greet the deity and all VIPs with flower showers. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya visited Ayodhya on Sunday to take stock of the grand event’s preparations expected to shape national politics and be a major issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls due in April-May.
Nearly 50 of India’s best instrumentalists will set the mood at the consecration event by playing ‘soft music’ in the presence of captains of industry, media, sports, films, music as well as high priests of Hindu order, representing different mutts, differing in their religious practices, but united in their faith in “Ram”.
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Virtually the whole of Ayodhya is looking forward to the consecration ceremony to get the deity enshrined in his rightful abode in his birthplace. In 2019, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favour of the temple side and in 2020 Modi performed the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the grand temple. Already, the temple town is in celebratory mode.
“Our hopes of a turnaround in our fortunes, be it in our business or other aspects of our life, rest on this temple which for years was locked in dispute,” said Akash Dubey who sells construction material near Karsevakpuram.
Many top film stars like Rajnikanth, Salman Khan, Kangana Ranaut arrived while chartered flights of many other VIPs kept landing at regular intervals at the newly inaugurated Maharishi Valmiki International Airport. Satyendra Das, the octogenarian head priest of Ram Janmabhoomi, said the set of rituals to be performed as per the directions of the high priests of Varanasi — Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid (he decided the time of consecration) and Laxmikant Shastri — would include bathing the idol sculpted by Mysuru-based Arun Yogiraj, lifting the veil from the eyes and applying kohl on them.
Devotional tunes played out across Ayodhya on the eve of the grand event though the temple town was virtually cordoned off from the rest of the country, with only VIPs invited for the event, media persons carrying valid passes and officials being let in. On the eve of the celebratory event, the culture department put up 100 stalls at which 2500 folk artistes performed for an audience that was a motley mix of wide-eyed onlookers, security force personnel, guests, locals and media.
The celebrations happened across the town but were most prominent along the 13-kilometre Ram Path – one of the four major corridors that have come up along Ayodhya.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has readied ‘Mahaprasad’ for the VIP guests who will attend the consecration event.