Days ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the newly built Ram Lalla idol was placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Mandir on Thursday, 18th January. The murti was transported to the temple site on a truck on Wednesday night, and it was placed on the marble pedestal in the Garbhagriha in the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.
The idol reached the Ram Mandir with a procession that made a brief stop at the Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya. The idol of Shri Ram Lalla has been carved in black stone by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj and weighs around 150-200 kg.
As per reports, the idol was placed on the marble asana with religious rituals and chanting of mantras that lasted 4 hours. Sculptor Arun Yogiraj was present during the event. Images from the temple show that a crane was used to transport the idol to the sanctum sanctorum. It is seen that the idol was completely covered.
#RamLalla placed on marble aasana; sculptor Arun Yogiraj present during installation ceremony. @PoojaShali & @GauravCSawant join @Akshita_N with more details. #6PMPrime #RamMandir #PranPratishtha pic.twitter.com/qwWhBVgYpy
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) January 18, 2024
Although the sculpture has been installed on the asana, it remains a stone statue for now. The black stone sculpture will become an idol only after the Pran Pratishtha or consecration ceremony on 22 January, Monday. Till then, the sculpture will remain fully covered. The eyes of the idol also are blindfolded, which will be removed on Monday. A curtain also has been drawn on the door of the Garbhagriha. Only a select number of priests will perform rituals till the consecration ceremony.
The rituals for Pran Pratishtha started on 16 January, and a different ritual is being held every day till 22nd. As per the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the rituals for today included Teerth Poojan, Jal Yatra, and Gandhadhivas.
The 51-inch-tall figure depicts Ram Lalla or lord Ram in his child form, as a five-year-old child. Arun Yogiraj from Mysore has used ‘Krishna Shila’ (black stone) from Karnataka to carve the Ram Lalla idol.
Notably, three sculptors were assigned the task of sculpting the Ram Lalla idol by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra. They were Ganesh Bhatt and Arun Yogiraj from Karnataka and Satyanarayan Pandey from Jaipur. Two of the idols were made using two stones from Karnataka and one from Rajasthan. Earlier, a stone was brought from Nepal, and later stones were also brought from Odisha and Maharashtra to carve the idol, but those were found unsuitable.
After all three idols were completed by the three sculptors in Ayodhya, the one by Arun Yogiraj was unanimously selected on Monday by 11 trustees of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra as the idol that will be placed in the sanctum sanctorum of Ram Mandir. Earlier the trust had said that the other two idols would be placed at prominent places in the temple compound.
The Pram Pratishtha of the idol installed on the mandapa will be during the auspicious ‘Abhijeet Muhurta’ from 12.20 pm to 1 pm on Monday. Starting Tuesday, Kashi-based Vedic scholar and priest Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid will oversee and anchor a team of 121 acharyas tasked with performing the rituals leading to the main event. Laxmikant M Dixit from Kashi has been named as the principal acharya.
