HYDERABAD: Living up to the dreams of his father, a karsevak, to see the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, an ardent devotee of Lord Ram from Hyderabad – Srinivas Sastry – has been embarking on a padayatra to present padukas fashioned from precious metals, weighing 9 kg and valued at Rs 65 lakh, to the temple.
Sastry had set forth on the padayatra sometime ago to arrive at the consecration of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir, an event which will be graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and religious luminaries, scheduled on January 22. So far, he has traversed approximately 7,600 km and is around 300 km away from Ayodhya.
Sastry, a native of Nizamabad district, is a sound engineer by profession. He initially crafted a pair of padukas weighing 8 kg, adorned with silver, three months prior. Advised by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to present these artefacts during the temple’s consecration, Sastry transformed the silver padukas into a blend of panchaloha (a traditional five-metal alloy of gold, silver, copper, zinc, and iron) with gold plating.
He embarked on the padayatra with the help of a route map provided by researcher Dr Ramavatar, a retired income tax official, to cover the path covered by Lord Ram during his exile. He also utilised this time to introduce the spirituality of Lord Ram overseas, including the UK, UAE, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Speaking to TNIE over the phone from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Sastry said that he has embarked on the padayatra to cover Shiva temples in the route to reach the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. He said that he has increased his pace and is covering at least 40 km a day.
In addition to his pilgrimage, Sastry has dedicated his life in service to Lord Ram and his devoted followers. In the wake of the historic Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya, Sastry established the ‘Ayodhya Bhagyanagar Sri Sitarama Seva Foundation,’ a trust engaged in the service of the divine.