Ayodhya, June 21: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has announced that an idol of Ram Lalla would be put in the newly built temple in Ayodhya on Makar Sankranti in January 2024.
According to Champat Rai, general secretary of the Trust, the event would take place as part of a protracted celebration that will begin with Deepotsav on the eve of Diwali this year. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has set December 31 as the deadline for opening the Ram temple to worshippers.
However, according to the Trust, there are no auspicious days for installing the statue in December. According to the Hindu calendar, ceremonies may only take place from Makar Sankranti, when the Sun travels from the southern to the northern hemisphere, according to the Trust.
“Makar Sankranti is the most auspicious day for the installation of the Ram Lalla idol,” Champat Rai explained. The Trust has long stated that the Ram temple building will be completed by December 2023, and that great celebrations will begin, lasting through Makar Sankranti in January 2024.
Previously, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the grand opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
On August 5, 2020, Modi presided over the “bhoomi pujan” of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. At the moment, Ram Lalla is worshipped in a prefabricated temple at Ram Janmabhoomi, which was erected there before the Ram temple was built.
“A letter signed by Trust chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das has been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inviting him for the ‘pran pratishtha’ (idol consecration) of Ram Lalla at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Ram temple,” Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal’s designated successor, said.
The letter would most likely be handed over to the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi by Nripendra Misra, head of the Ram Mandir Construction Committee.