LUCKNOW: Amid the ongoing daily trials for the ‘Surya Abhishek’ of Ram Lalla consecrated in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the entire opto mechanical system required to execute the historic event has been put in place to grace the forehead of the Ram Lalla idol with sunrays on the occasion of Ram Navmi, which falls on April 17.
Temple Construction Committee chairman, retired IAS officer Nripendra Mishra, claimed on Monday that to mark the birth of Ram Lalla on Ram Navmi, the sunrays would fall for five minutes at 12:16 pm on the forehead of the 51-inch tall idol representing the five-year-old form of Lord Ram.
“The efforts are on to make technical arrangements for the ceremony, and the scientists are not leaving anything to chance to make those divine moments grand,” said Mishra.
Ram Navmi, celebrated on the ninth day of the first month of the Hindu calendar, typically falls in March-April, marking the birth of Lord Ram. This is the first Ram Navmi marking the birth of Lord Ram after the consecration of his child form in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024.
According to S.K. Panigrahi, the project’s chief scientist of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, after a year of efforts, it would be possible to make the sunrays fall on the forehead of Lord Ram on Ram Navmi. The team of experts had commenced work on this project in April 2023. The scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, had come together to make it happen successfully.
As per the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust sources, the sunlight will adorn Ram Lalla’s forehead with a circular ‘tilak’, measuring around 75mm, symbolising the ‘Surya Tilak’ of the Suryavanshi king. Henceforth, a similar event to illuminate the garbhagriha by sunrays will be replicated on Ram Navmi every year on the lines of the 13th-century Sun temple at Konark in Odisha.
As per the plan, at noon, when the sun reaches its zenith above the temple, its rays will penetrate the garbhagriha and will be redirected through high-quality lenses within the sanctum sanctorum, ultimately resting upon the forehead of Ram Lalla.
Circular ‘tilak’
Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust sources said the sunlight will adorn Ram Lalla’s forehead with a circular ‘tilak’, measuring around 75mm, symbolising the ‘Surya Tilak’ of the Suryavanshi king. A similar event to illuminate garbhagriha will be replicated on Ram Navmi every year on the lines of the 13th-century Sun temple.