Ram Temple set for a grand opening today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will throw open a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Monday and preside over a consecration ceremony of the idol of the infant god Ram, or Ram Lalla, marking the culmination of an event that is likely to shape the electoral narrative in general elections later this year.

Thousands of people, including many celebrities from the film, political and sports worlds, arrived in Ayodhya on Sunday ahead of the ceremony as the temple town decked itself up in flowers and spruced up its roads and pavements.

“Immersed in devotion, the prana pratishtha ceremony at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya will be graced by the majestic mangal dhwani at 10am. Witness over 50 exquisite instruments from different states come together for this auspicious occasion, resonating for nearly two hours,” said the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple.

The rituals leading up to the event spanned a week and saw a variety of prayers being offered by 121 priests who chanted Sanskrit hymns and performed Vedic rites. The final leg of the consecration ceremony, to be presided over by Modi, will start at 12.20pm on January 22 and end by around 1pm. The 51-inch stone idol by renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj of Karnataka has been enthroned at the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Temple.

In the run-up to the temple’s opening, the state government is sprucing up the centuries-old town — roads are being widened, newly built footpaths polished, the facade of buildings washed in a uniform yellowish hue, temple motifs painted on shopfronts and smashed skeletons of buildings feverishly being worked upon.

“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.