Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Each of these pillars will have 16 intricately carved statues.
Nearly four lakh cubic feet of pink stone will be brought from Rajasthan for building Ayodhya's Ram Temple, whose design was revealed on Tuesday by the trust supervising the construction of the mammoth structure. The place of worship will witness a grand ground-breaking ceremony tomorrow, which will be attended by prominent people from all walks of life, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The stones are being brought for carving from Bansi Pahadpur in Rajasthan's Bharatpur. They are comparatively lighter than other construction stones and hundreds of years old. Around one lakh cubic feet stone has already been carved for the temple.
A series of images showed a grand three-storey stone structure on a raised platform with multiple turrets, pillars and domes. The temple will be 161 feet tall and almost double the size of what was originally planned, according to its architect.
Out of the around 212 pillars planned, 116 pillars are ready, as per the old model. Now since the size of the temple has been altered, the structure will require around 320 pillars.
Each of these pillars will have 16 intricately carved statues.
Two workshops - one in Ayodhya and the other in Pindwada, Rajasthan - have been assigned to undertake the arduous task of readying these pillars for the temple.
The construction of the temple was ordered last year by the Supreme Court, whose landmark judgement ended decades of dispute between the Hindus and Muslim communities, who claimed the land. It is being built on a site where the 16th century Babri mosque existed before it was demolished by right-wing activities in 1992.
The land where the temple is being constructed is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram.
The Supreme Court had also given an alternate piece of land to the Muslim petitioners for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya.