MYSURU: Delighted over the use of a stone block from his land at Gujjegowdanapura village near Mysuru to carve the idol of Ram Lalla to be consecrated in Ayodhya on January 22, Dalit farmer Ramdas has decided to donate part of his property to construct a Ram temple in their village.
Ramdas said that the people of Gujjegowdanapura are happy that the idol has been carved out of the stone block from their village.
“I wanted to clear the rocks on my 2.14 acres of land for cultivation. The rocks excavated suited the requirement of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj selected one of them,” he said.
“With many from the village expressing their desire to see a Ram temple on my land from where the stone block was taken to Ayodhya, I decided to donate part of it,” Ramdas said.
Srinivas, a local quarry contractor, who took up the work to clear the rocks, said it took a few days to remove one of the huge rocks that was split into three blocks. When work was going on, Mannaiah Badigar, Narendra Shilpi and Gopal contacted him for a stone block to carve the Ram Lalla idol.
“When I told them that we have three huge blocks of stone measuring 10ft, they visited Ramdas’ land and took one of them to Ayodhya for tests by experts. We were delighted when they told us that the trust had selected the stone block.
Soon, orders for four more blocks to carve the idols of Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shatrugna were delivered in a month,” he said.
Srinivas said many have worked hard to excavate the stone block sent to Ayodhya. However, he regretted that they had not been invited to the inauguration of the temple. Local legislator GT Devegowda should make arrangements for their visit to Ayodhya, he added.
Meanwhile, Devegowda said Ram bhakts and villagers will lay the foundation stone for the construction of the temple on the piece of land to be donated by Ramdas on January 22 between 6 am and 8 am. Gujjegowdanapura will be spruced up for that special occasion, he added.
He said he along with the villagers would approach Yogiraj to carve an idol of Lord Ram for the temple to be built on Ramdas’ land using a stone block excavated there.