Ram Temple in Ayodhya wouldn’t need repairs before a 1,000 years

A bit more than four years following a Supreme Court directive that cleared the path for the building of the Ram Temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya, the initial stage of the project is nearing completion. The temple is designed in the Nagara style by a team led by the renowned architect Chandrakant Bhai Sompura.

The temple’s primarily built of pink sandstone and carved marble from Mirzapur and Bansi-Paharpur in Rajasthan. Besides, 17,000 granite stones, each weighing 2 tonnes, have been used in it. “So far, 21 lakh cubic feet of granite, sandstone and marble has been used in the construction of the temple,” says Champat Rai, general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Built for eternity

On experts’ advice, steel and ordinary cement have not been used in the temple’s construction. The foundation, laid after consultations with IIT Chennai, is 12m deep. The soil used for refilling the foundation can get converted into stone in 28 days, and a total of 47 layers were laid in the foundation. Rai says the temple will not require any repairs for at least 1,000 years and even a 6.5 magnitude earthquake won’t be able to shake its foundation.

A flight of 32 steps of height 16.5 feet leads up to temple after entrance from the Singhdwar.

Interestingly, all the bricks donated during and after the 1992 ‘Shila Daan’, and the stones brought for carving to Ayodhya’s Karsevakpuram by Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the past three decades have been used in the temple’s construction.

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2 more phases to go

Construction committee chairman Nripendra Misra had set a December 15 deadline for completing the first phase – the ground floor where the sanctum sanctorum is situated.

The second phase, including the first and second floors, all the murals and iconography work, lower plinth and engraving on around 360 massive pillars, will be finished by December 2024. The first floor will have the Ram Darbar, and each pillar will have 25-30 figures carved on it. Seven temples of Maharishi Valmiki, Vishwamitra, Nishad, Shabri, etc, will also be built outside the parkota (outer wall) next year.

In the third phase, the 71-acre site, including auditoriums and the parkota that has bronze murals and temples of Saptarishis, etc, will be completed by December 2025.

Ram idol an enigma

Before the January 22 consecration ceremony, the temple trust will select one of the three idols of Ram Lalla (5-year-old deity) being carved in secrecy at three different locations in Ayodhya. The chosen idol will be installed in the sanctum sanctorum in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, and the public will be able to have darshan of the deity after the morning of January 27.

In an interview to TOI, Misra, former principal secretary to PM Modi, had said the three sculptors of the Ram Lalla idols were invited to Ayodhya along with their choice of stone. While one brought white Makrana marble, the other two brought a greyish stone from Karnataka that’s popularly known as Krishna Shila.

These and all other types of stones meant for idols were tested at the government’s National Institute of Rock Mechanics. Only then were the sculptors asked to start work.

All three statues will stand at a height of 51 inches, holding a bow and arrow. When placed on their pedestals, the total height of each idol will be approximately 7 feet. Experts suggest that this height is essential to enable devotees to have a clear view from a distance of 25 feet during darshan.

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