The city of Ayodhya is ready like a bride for the grand celebration of the consecration ceremony to be held in the Ram temple on Monday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate as the chief host in the religious rituals of this much-awaited ceremony.
The temple will be opened to the general public the very next day of Ramlala Pran Pratistha.
The ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony will begin at 12.20 pm on January 22 (Monday) and is expected to be completed by 1 pm.
After this the Prime Minister will address a gathering of more than 7,000 people, including saints and eminent personalities, at the venue.
According to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, on Sunday, the idol of Ram Lala was bathed with 114 pitchers filled with ‘medicated’ and holy water brought from various pilgrimage sites.
A member of the trust said, “The idol was kept in ‘Madhyadhivas’ today. ‘Ratri Jagran Adhivas’ will start from today. The old idol of Ram Lala is being worshiped in ‘Yagyashala’. “The rituals are being performed with flowers brought from many places including Chennai and Pune.”
He said, “Today temple trust member Anil Mishra along with his family, VHP chief R. N. Singh and others are performing rituals.
The rituals related to the Pran Pratistha ceremony had started from Saryu river on January 16, which will be completed on Monday afternoon in ‘Abhijeet Muhurta’. Some of the people invited for the ceremony reached Ayodhya on Sunday and others are expected to reach on Monday morning. It is expected that millions of people will watch the event live on television and online platforms.
In view of this, many state governments including the Central Government have announced half-day holiday. Authorities finalized preparations for the ceremony on Sunday in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram. Along with this, special celebrations have been announced on this occasion in the country and abroad.
Events have been announced for January 22 in different parts of the world, from Washington DC to Paris and Sydney. These programs are being organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Hindu diaspora community in 60 countries.
Ayodhya has been decorated with flowers and lights and ‘Ram Dhun’ was played on loudspeakers installed at various places on Sunday.
The townspeople came out on the streets dressed as Lord Ram, Mother Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman, followed by mesmerized devotees who also joined the rallies. Floral patterns and ceremonial gates depicting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ with lights are enhancing the aura of the city.
14 couples will become hosts
The new 51-inch idol of Ramlala, made by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj, was installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on Thursday afternoon.
For the ‘Pran Pratistha’ ceremony, 14 couples from different parts of India will be the ‘hosts’ for the ‘Pran Pratistha’ ceremony. Temple Trust General Secretary Champat Rai said that entry into the temple will be from the eastern direction and exit will be from the south direction.
specialty of the temple
The entire structure of the temple will be three storeyed. Devotees will have to climb 32 steps from the eastern side to reach the main temple. The temple complex, built in traditional Nagar style, will be 380 feet long (east-west direction), 250 feet wide and 161 feet high.
Each floor of the temple will be 20 feet high and will have a total of 392 pillars and 44 gates.
tight security
The Uttar Pradesh government is leaving no stone unturned to prepare for this special day and policemen have been deployed at every nook and corner of the city.
Barriers with barbed wire have been installed at every main intersection of the temple town. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams trained to deal with incidents like earthquakes and floods as well as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks have also been deployed.
The administration has also made preparations to deal with any health emergency in view of the cold outbreak. Beds have been reserved in Ayodhya and district hospitals and the medical colleges here. Experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have trained doctors in health care institutions to deal with emergencies.
Ayodhya city became happy with Ram
The grand Ram temple is decorated with flowers and special lights and the entire city is drenched in religious colors or we can say that ‘Ayodhya is becoming Rammay’. This temple town is covered with posters and hoardings with slogans like “Shubh Ghadi Aayi”, “Tayar Hai Ayodhya Dham, Shri Ram will sit”, “Ram will return”, “Ram Rajya in Ayodhya”. Posters with various verses of Ramayana have also been put up at important places like Ram Marg, Saryu river bank and Lata Mangeshkar Chowk.
Ramlila, Bhagwat Katha, Bhajan Sandhya and cultural programs are being organized at various places here. The banks of river Saryu are also decorated, where thousands of people are gathering every evening for Aarti. Public sector banks, insurance companies, financial institutions and regional rural banks across the country will also remain closed for half a day on January 22.
Declaration of holiday for 22 January
NSE and BSE stock exchanges have also announced no trading on this day. 50 traditional musical instruments from across the country will be used in the divine ‘Mangal Dhvani’ which will be heard for about two hours before ‘Pran Pratishtha’ in Ayodhya.
This grand musical presentation, conducted by Ayodhya’s famous poet Yatindra Mishra, is supported by the Sangeet Natak Academy of New Delhi. According to ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra’, this musical presentation will start at 10 am.
Details of programs in the temple inauguration
In this programme, flute and dholak from Uttar Pradesh, Veena from Karnataka, Sundari from Maharashtra, Algoja from Punjab, Mardala from Odisha, Santoor from Madhya Pradesh, Pung from Manipur, Nagara and Kali from Assam, Tambura from Chhattisgarh, Pakhawaj from Bihar, Delhi Artists playing Shehnai from Rajasthan and Ravanahatha from Rajasthan will be included.
Guest
Shrikhol and Sarod from West Bengal, Ghatam from Andhra Pradesh, Sitar from Jharkhand, Nadaswaram and Mridang from Tamil Nadu and Hooda Kalakar from Uttarakhand will also participate in the program. More than 7,000 people have been invited for the ceremony. The list of state guests includes prominent political leaders, big industrialists, film actors, sportspersons, bureaucrats and diplomats. People participating in the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony also include those who are agitating for the temple in Ram Janmabhoomi.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, veteran industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani and famous player Sachin Tendulkar are also included in the list of invited guests.
Almost all the opposition leaders who were invited for the ceremony have refused to attend the ceremony. Congress has called it a program of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There are many people who are not included in this list but they are reaching Ayodhya in a unique way amidst the harsh cold – by walking, cycling and skating.
gift for temple
For this grand celebration, gifts are being sent from different parts of the country which include bangles with the picture of Lord Ram, 56 varieties of ‘Petha’, 500 kg iron-bronze ‘Nagada’ and 500 kg “Kumkum” coming from Amravati. ” is included.
The Ram Temple Management Committee has received many gifts including a 108-foot incense stick, a 2,100-kilogram bell, gold slippers, a 10-foot-tall lock and key and a clock that dates back to the eighth century.
More than 3,000 gifts have also arrived from Sita’s birthplace Janakpur in Nepal. A delegation from Sri Lanka has brought a special gift from the Ashoka Vatika mentioned in the Ramayana. Various community kitchens like Bhandara, Langar etc. are being run here to provide food to the devotees.
These community kitchens are being run by people ranging from Nihang Sikhs to ISKCON and temple trusts across the country to the local people of Ayodhya.
The Supreme Court, while giving its verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case on November 9, 2019, had ordered to build a temple at the disputed site and to give five acres of land to Muslims to build a mosque at a prominent place in Ayodhya. In December 1992, Kar Sevaks had demolished the Babri Masjid present at the disputed site.