On Thursday afternoon, in the midst of Vedic hymns being chanted, the idol of Ram Lalla, created by Karnataka-based artist Arun Yogiraj, was placed inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. This is done in advance of the Ram mandir’s consecration ceremony on January 22.
The deity’s face was concealed by a veil in the earliest pictures of the recently constructed idol of Ram Lalla. On Wednesday night, a crane was used to move the idol inside the temple.
The idol of Ram Lalla is situated within the sanctum sanctorum.
At 1:28 p.m. on Thursday, the idol of Ram Lalla was placed in the Ram temple’s “Garbha Griha,” or sanctum sanctorum. According to The Indian Express, the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust members who attended the placement ceremony included Anil Mishra, Champat Rai, and Swami Govind Giri.
“Ram Lalla will now sit on his asana [seat],” the Deccan Herald quoted a priest involved in the Ayodhya rituals as saying.
The news agency ANI reported that respected acharyas and Vedic Brahmins conducted the worship rituals within the temple’s boundaries.
An eyewitness told The Indian Express that a team of engineers oversaw the installation because of the idol’s weight of between 150 and 200 kg and the restricted space inside the sanctum sanctorum.
As part of the “Jaladhivas” ritual, the idol was purportedly cleaned with water from several holy rivers around the nation before being placed. “Under Jaladhivas, the idol is, ideally, submerged in water from the river, but given the size of this idol, a water kalash [urn] is kept at the feet of the idol and a cloth soaked in water is draped over it,” a priest who was carrying out the rituals explained.
The idol was then coated in a unique paste known as “Gandhadhivas” that was prepared from Chandan and Kesar.
Installing Ram Lalla with particular prayers
When the idol was being carried to the sanctum sanctorum for Ganesh Pujan, additional rites were also carried out.
‘Pradhan sankalp’ was carried out by Anil Mishra, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is in charge of building and overseeing the magnificent Ram Temple in Ayodhya, according to Arun Dixit, a priest connected to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
“The idea behind the ‘Pradhan Sankalp ‘is that the ‘Pratishtha ‘of Lord Ram is being done for the welfare of all, for the welfare of the nation, for the welfare of humanity, and also for those who contributed to this work,” he stated.
The previous Wednesday night, the idol of Ram Lalla was brought inside the Ram temple, and a special puja was performed in the sanctum sanctorum.
