LUCKNOW: The three-day consecration ceremony of Ram Darbar, wherein, Lord Ram was enthroned as king with Goddess Sita by his side and brothers, Bharatji, Shatrughanji and Lakshmanji, along with Lord Hanuman, in his Darbar on the first floor of the newly-built Ram temple on Shree Ramjanmabhoomi complex, concluded in Ayodhya on Thursday.
Lord Ram’s enthronement took place in the 15-minute auspicious ‘Abhijeet Muhurat’ between 11:25 am and 11:40 am in the presence of UP CM Yogi Adityanath amid chanting of vedic mantras and performance of final rituals by 101 high priests who had converged for the occasion in Ayodhya from across the country.
In fact, the rituals towards the consecration ceremony had commenced on Tuesday, June 3. The final phase of the ceremony lasted around 45-50 minutes as the puja had started at 11 am.
CM Yogi, who had his 53rd birthday on Thursday, spent the day in Ayodhya leading the puja and performing the aarti of Ram Lalla in the Sanctum Sanctorum on the ground floor of the temple. After the rituals in the sanctum sanctorum, the CM reached the first floor of the temple for Pran Pratishtha of Ram Darbar and led the rituals there as well.
On the occasion, Dr Anil Mishra, member of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust and host of the ceremony, was also present along with his wife Usha Mishra. Additionally, Govind Dev Giri, a member of the Trust, felicitated Yogi Adityanath. After the rituals, CM greeted the select people who were invited to the ceremony.
Earlier, he also offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Mandir in Ayodhya as a part of his schedule to attend Pran Pratishtha. Expressing his gratitude, the CM took to X and wrote about being a part of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
“Today, in the holy birthplace of Lord Shri Ram, Ayodhya Dham, I am getting the great fortune of becoming a witness to the programme organised for the Pran-Pratishtha of the holy idols of deities in the eight temples including Shri Ram Darbar on the first floor of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple,” he said in the post.
He also called the occasion a new expression of 'Ek Bharat-Shrestha Bharat' and a victory for Lord Ram.
Sharing the details of the event, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust posted on X that the first day of the ceremony involved rituals initiated in Yagyashala, specially curated for the event. These rituals continued on the second day as well in which various Anushthans and the Utsav Vigrahas were taken on a Parikrama of the mandir premises.
Along with Ram Darbar, the consecration of idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, Lord Surya, Goddess Bhagwati, Goddess Annapurna, and Sheshavtar in seven other temples on the premises also took place.
It may be recalled that the consecration of Ram Lalla (child form of Lord Ram) in the sanctum sanctorum on the ground floor of the temple had taken place with much fanfare in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and a galaxy of dignitaries from across the globe on January 22, 2024.
Moreover, the ornaments which adorned the idols consecrated in Ram Darbar were made in gold, precious stones and gems, were donated by a Surat-based businessman, Mukesh Patel. The ornaments, including 11 crowns, necklaces, earrings, forehead tilaks, bows and arrows, which bejewelled the idols, included a 1000-carat diamond, 30 kg of silver, 300 gms of gold and 300 carats of rubies.
As per the temple trust sources, the ornaments were brought to Ayodhya through a chartered plane and handed over to the temple trust. Unlike the first consecration ceremony to which over 3000 guests were invited, for the second consecration, the temple trust had invited 350 guests, including the trust members, saints and seers from across the country.