Jai Shri Ram’s strong cheers, the singing of the Vedic hymns and the conch’s breath greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he entered Ram Janmabhoomi’s site in the city of Uttar Pradesh Ayodhya on Wednesday at 12:07 p.m.
Inside, 175 visitors waited patiently in spaced chairs two feet away under a water-resistant awning in red, gold and yellow tones. Outside, in the temple city, others crowded in department stores with televisions to watch the event, and the roofs of houses near the temple site have become privileged prospects as others rushed to take a look at the Prime Minister. “Bhoomi Pujan (the opening ceremony) is a new beginning for us and the end of a sour past,” said Sujeet Bahadur, 65, a local resident old enough for the ram temple movement.
Dressed in a classic silk dhoti and a golden kurta, Modi presented prayers to the children’s deity, Ram Lalla, at the makeshift temple and performed a ring road before planting a young tree. He then participated in the opening ceremony.
The Vedic ceremony, presided over by Senapati Shastri of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Tamil Nadu, began with prayers in Ganesha, the Hindu god of the beginnings. Hymns committed to Lord Hanuman, Kaal Bhairav and the goddess Kali, the deity of Ram’s clan, were also recited. A 40kg silver brick donated through the head of the temple trust, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, used for the ritual.
The great opportunity to lay foundation began at 12:45 p.m., a predetermined time through astrologers and seers. The priests dug a hole in the sanctum sanctorum of the proposed temple, the silver brick was removed, and nine other bricks were placed, engraved with the words “Jai Shri Ram” [God save you, Mr. Ram]. All the bricks were donated through worshippers from around the world in 1989, when Hindu teams began a massive mobilization to build the temple at what they believed was Mr. Ram’s birthplace.
A lotus and the Prime Minister’s non-public offering, a kalash (sacred pitcher) made of five sacred metals in Hindu traditions (gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc) were placed on the bricks. A copper plaque donated through Shankaracharya from Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, one of the sacred places of Hinduism, on which Sanskrit hymns are written, also placed at the base of the temple. While the prime minister was uttering prayers, Rashtriya leader Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Mohan Bhagwat, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath, Salil Singhal, nephew of the past due to Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal, and his wife looked. They were all dressed in masks.
The soil of at least 2000 Hindu holy sites and the water of at least one hundred sacred rivers were used for purification and other rituals. The 175 visitors included 135 visionaries of non-secular traditions and eminent personalities of Ayodhya.
“Nine bricks are kept here Array … were sent through Lord Ram faithful from all over the world in 1989. There are 2,75,000 bricks of this type, of which a hundred bricks were taken engraved ‘Jai Shri Ram'”, said a priest officiating the ceremony.
The rite lasted 40 minutes, after which the Prime Minister issued a postage stamp on the Ram Temple designed through Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, an organization in the culture department of the Uttar Pradesh government. Adityanath presented a three-foot-tall statue of Kodanda Ram carved in rosewood to PM Modi. Kodada (literally, with a bow) Ram represents the deity of the era in which Ram sought Sita after her abduction in the epic Ramayana.
At night, fireworks lit up the sky and tens of thousands of earth lamps twinkled through the city when citizens said they expected the rite to mark a new beginning.
Authorities said 100,000 lamps were lit on the banks of the Saryu River.
“Lord Ram is everyone’s. The Temple of Ram will also bring a global progression to Ayodhya,” said Iqbal Ansari, son of the oldest litigator in the trial named Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid through the Supreme Court last year.
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