AYODHYA: As spiritual fervour overwhelms the temple town and chants of “Jai Shri Ram’’ reverberate through the atmosphere, Ayodhya is all set for the historic Pran Pratistha ceremony of Ram Lalla on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the consecration ceremony at the newly constructed grand Ram Temple. The shrine will be opened to the public a day later.
The town is playing host to thousands of ardent devotees who have made a beeline to witness the momentous occasion on January 22. Celebrities, dignitaries and special invitees are reaching Ayodhya from all nooks and corners of the country as well as around the globe.
Temples dotting the sacred town are resonating with devotional hymns and recitations of Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas. Community kitchens have sprung up in various parts of the town to offer freshly prepared food to the devotees.
In the run-up to the consecration ceremony on Monday, chief priest Sateyndra Das said the old Ram Lalla idol has been placed in the newly constructed temple.
According to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Ram Lalla idol was bathed on Sunday with 114 pitchers filled with “aushadhiyukt” (medicated) water and sacred water brought from various pilgrimage sites.
Stringent security measures have been put in place with the borders sealed, and only guests with passes granted entry until January 23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to participate in the consecration ceremony from 12:20 PM to 12:40 PM on Monday, a momentous event expected to be witnessed by over 7,000 esteemed guests, including eminent personalities from India and abroad. Delegates from different nations are also likely to attend the ceremony.
A multi-layer security cover is in place in Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple, with 10,000 CCTVs keeping an eye on the movement of people and police personnel in plain clothes deployed at the venue.
As part of enhanced security measures, multiple NDRF teams trained to tackle chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks, drowning incidents and disasters like earthquakes have been deployed.
Crack commando teams of the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) also conducted patrolling in Ayodhya on Saturday. To ensure better security arrangements at the programme venue in Ayodhya, technology is being used on a large scale.
“For this, 10,000 CCTV cameras have been installed in the entire Ayodhya district. In some of these CCTV cameras, we are using AI-based technology so that we can maintain a strict vigil on commuters,” Director-General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said.
Police personnel with multilingual skills will be deployed in plain clothes at the programme venue.
“We are coordinating with other agencies. Checking is going on at the international and inter-state border. Police will use drones for crowd control and for diversion of excess crowds,” he said.
Ayodhya will be illuminated with the glow of 10 lakh diyas on Monday evening as the celebration will extend beyond the temple premises, with diyas set to illuminate 100 temples, major intersections, and public places.
The town is decked up with floral decoration and the transformation of the scenic Ram Path into a beautiful pathway is very pleasing. City roads, adorned with prominent cutouts of Lord Ram, and the street lights in Ram Path, known as Surya Stambh, vividly depict the rising sun. Hoardings proudly declare, “Ram nagari mein aapka swagat hai,” welcoming all to the divine city of Lord Ram.
After the rituals of the “Pran Pratishtha”, the prime minister will address a gathering of more than 7,000 people, including seers and prominent personalities, at the venue.
Lakhs of people are expected to watch the mega event live on TV and online platforms as several states have declared a holiday. The central government also declared a half-day holiday in all its offices and institutions on Monday. Temples across the country and abroad have also announced special festivities to mark the occasion.
From Washington DC to Paris to Sydney, events have been planned in various parts of the world on January 22. These programmes are either being organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or Hindu diaspora groups in 60 countries.
The new 51-inch idol of Ram Lalla, sculpted by Mysuru-based Arun Yogiraj, was placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on Thursday afternoon. The first image of the new idol with eyes covered with a cloth was released on Friday.
The temple complex, built in the traditional Nagara 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 have a total of 392 pillars and 44 gates.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, and sporting icon Sachin Tendulkar are among the prominent people among the invitees.
Almost all opposition leaders invited to the ceremony have declined to attend the ceremony, with the Congress calling it a BJP-RSS event.
Also featured in the list of gifts for the January 22 event are special perfumes from Kannauj, 500 kg “kumkum” leaves from Amravati, grains collected at a Ram temple in Delhi, flowers from Bhopal and papers with Lord Ram written 4.31 crore times from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara.
The Ram temple management committee has received other offerings such as a 108-foot incense stick, a 2,100-kg bell, a giant lamp weighing 1,100 kg, gold footwear, a 10-foot-high lock and key and a clock that simultaneously denotes time in eight countries, among others.
More than 3,000 gifts from Sita’s birthplace in Nepal’s Janakpur have also arrived. A Sri Lankan delegation brought a special gift from the Ashok Vatika, a garden mentioned in the Ramayana where Sita was confined after she was abducted by Ravana and taken to Lanka.