Preserving the rich heritage of Ayodhya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief guest at the historic ‘Consecration Ceremony’ or ‘Pran Pratishtha’ in the newly built Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22 at the auspicious muhurta at 12.20 pm, appealed to the public at large to light the ‘Ram Jyoti’ at home and celebrate the occasion, as during Diwali but not crowd the city. ‘Pran Pratishtha,’ an important temple ritual, will invoke the life force in the 51-inch-tall idol of five-year-old Ram Lalla, the central figure in the ceremony. The seven-day ceremony commences on January 16 with rituals like ‘Atonement Ceremony, Dashvidh Bath, Vishnu Worship etc. Prior to this, Trust Secretary Champat Rai launched the ‘Akshat’ Distribution Program on the New Years’ Day.

‘Rama Janma Bhoomi’ has had innate importance since Maharshi Valmiki’s time. It was vividly described in Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana, and the Legend was that Ayodhya, then located on the banks of Sarayu River like now, with Ganga and Panchal Pradesh on one side and Mithila on the other side, was the birth place of Sri Rama. The present Ayodhya shrank in size and rivers, too, have changed their course. PM Modi, envisioned developing Ayodhya with world-class infrastructure, improved connectivity, revamped civic amenities, preserve, and protect its rich heritage. Towards this, on December 30, 2023, he inaugurated the renovated ‘Ayodhya Dham Railway Station’ building equipped with ultra-modern features, and the new ‘Maharishi Valmiki International Airport’.

Lead roles and central characters in Valmiki Ramayana, Sitadevi, (Incarnation of Maha Laxmi) and Sri Ramachandramurthy (Incarnation of Lord Vishnu) were born in human form in Tretha Yug to establish righteousness. One fine morning, Valmiki was at River Tamasa for a holy bath and saw a couple of crane birds, near river's foreshore, flying in togetherness and chuckling delightfully. He then noticed a hunter killing the male bird with his arrow which fell instantaneously on the ground reeling with blood covered wings. The female bird on seeing this, and out of state of compassion cuckooed with sorrow. In this scenario, Valmiki cursed the hunter and the sentences that he articulated surprisingly became a four-line stanza with each line equally postulated, with many meanings in it. That was the Genesis of Valmiki Ramayana.

Taking cue from there, Valmiki authored the legend Ramayana, eulogizing Rama's prominence, with evenly worded verses, and words yielding great meanings which runs into 24,000 Sanskrit Shlokas. This literary poetic exposition acknowledged as the first ever one, in Sanskrit language was transcreated for the first-time verse by verse into Grammatical Telugu running into 24,000 stanzas, by great Telugu poet Vavilikolanu Subba Rau, adored as ‘Andhra Valmiki’ by the contemporary Sanskrit and Telugu literary scholars. These nine-volume literal metrical translation of Sanskrit Ramayana, Sri Madandhra Valmiki Ramayana Mandaram, penned hundred years ago, is widely known for its ‘Spiritual and General Encyclopaedic’ nature.

Valmiki taught 24,000 shlokas composed by him to Lava and Kusha, the twin sons of Rama and Sita, born while Sita was in forests. They both sang the ballad among the groups of sages and saints in Ayodhya and won laurels. Rama on hearing their performance, took them to his palace to listen to the ballad along with his brothers. That is how the 'Legend of Sita and Raghu Rama’ came to prominence first. The story begins with ‘Ayodhya,’ a spiritually and righteously rich city from the times of ‘Maharshi’ Valmiki to ‘Rajarshi’ Narendra Modi.

The Sanskrit ‘Valmiki Version’ of Ramayana and its near word-to-word Telugu metrical translation of ‘Andhra Valmiki,’ narrated the earliest Ayodhya. In the Kosala country adjoining River Sarayu where all the people lived happily, there was a glorious city with well-devised royal highways called Ayodhya, surrounded with gateways and archways. This greater Ayodhya with its natural beauty in all aspects can only be compared with Heavenly Capital Amaravati. As Lord Maha Vishnu manifested in the form a human being there, the city came to be known as ‘Ayodhya,’ and, in His (Vishnu or Sri Rama) Service, there was Nirvana, a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven. ‘Ayodhya’ visioned by ‘Maharshi Valmiki’ and envisioned by ‘Rajarshi Modi’ is the city, what we see today!!!

Ayodhya ruled by Ikshvaka dynasty or Surya Vamsha kings, was encompassed with Vedic Scholars who always worshiped the Ritual Fire. Brahmins of Ayodhya were known for charity donating their wealth. Reciting Vedas, the sacred theology was their ceaseless activity. Kshatriyas evinced interest in the teachings of Brahmins, for intellectual and religious support. Trading class Vaisyas were supportive of king and helped in refining state’s economy. The working class, while performing their own duties, pursued their hereditary professions. All advocated truthfulness and were satisfied with their own riches without greed.

Ayodhya city was well protected by king Dasharatha during his rule, ably assisted by his intelligent, capable, religious, virtuous, valorous, noble, courageous, effectual, good-natured ministers. Governance was made meaningful with their virtuous, skilful, and efficient administration. Without any distinction, everyone who lived in Ayodhya were virtuous, exuberant, scholarly, and learned in every aspect. Dasharatha having no children, while performing Vedic Ritual ‘Putra Kameshti’ to beget children, a heavenly being ‘Prajapatya Purusha’ emerged from the fire of Altar, with a gold vessel containing divine dessert and gave it to Dasharatha.

As advised by Prajapatya Dasharatha distributed the dessert to his three wives to In the twelfth month after Putra Kameshti, in the first month of Lunar new year, on the ninth day, in the constellation of Punarvasu, and when Sun, Mars, Jupitar, Venus as well as Saturn were in exaltation in their respective houses and when Aries, Capricornus, Cancer, Pisces, Libra, Jupitar and Moon were in conjunction, Dasharatha’s wife Kousalya gave birth to the incarnation of Universe, Lord Maha Vishnu, the ‘Sri Rama’ in Ayodhya. Ayodhya thus became the birthplace of Sri Rama or Rama Janma Bhoomi.

Modern history recorded a dispute that was started in 1528, when the land on which Babri Masjid Mosque stood, considered by Hindus to be the Birthplace of Rama. To put an end to this longstanding ‘Ayodhya Dispute,’ on November 9, 2019 a five-judge bench of Supreme Court, unanimously directed the Government of India to create a Trust to build the Ram Mandir temple and form a Board of Trustees. SC also directed that the possession of the disputed 2.77 acre land to be given to the Personification of the Hindu God, the ‘Ram Lalla Virajman,’ whom it identified as a ‘Juristic Person.’ The Apex Court reversed the 2010 Allahabad High Court Judgment and awarded the title to the deity, Shri Ram Virajman. On February 5, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of 15-member Trust to oversee construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The estimated cost of Rs 18,000 crore is being funded through donations from public. First donation of one rupee was made by Union Government.

On August 5, 2020, PM Modi conducted Bhumi Puja and laid foundation stone. With change of design, the Ram Mandir will be almost double the size of what was originally planned. In the 70 acres allocated to the Trust, various temples are being built, featuring the main temple complex of 2.7 acres in which Shri Ram Idol will be placed as the central figure and worshipping will be done by the devotees. It also features an octangular shaped sanctum and a circular structure perimeter. The temple is enclosed by a four-cornered wall, ‘Prakara’ with a running length of nearly 750 meters. The uniqueness of the 14-foot wide wall lies in its double-storeyed structure, allowing devotees to perform Parikrama on the upper floor.

Undeniably, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who richly deserves to be abundantly and exceptionally credited with the construction of Ram Mandir, and the entire Hindu Community is obliged to him for this. Former PM late PV Narasimha Rao whose heart was set on constructing Ram temple, but in vain, senior advocate K Parasaran, who successfully fought Ayodhya dispute case, and former ICS officer late KK Nair who as Faizabad District Magistrate in 1949 restored Hindus Right to worship at the Rama Janma Bhumi, by defying Nehru’s orders, too, ‘Remotely Deserve Heart of Heart Greetings’ from every Indian.