Pilgrims will be able to have a glimpse of the idol of Lord Ram in his child form at the temple in Ayodhya definitely before January 26 and the first phase of construction of the grand temple will be completed by December this year, Chairman of Ayodhya Ram Mandir Construction Committee Nripendra Misra has said.
In an interview with ANI, Mr Misra said the ground floor of the temple has five mandaps, starting with the sanctum-sanctorum, where the deity would be installed.
He said the date of "pran prathistha" (consecration) has not been finalised yet.
"It is safe to announce through ANI that the pilgrims would be able to have a glimpse of Lord Ram in his child form definitely before January 26, 2024," Nripendra Misra said.
"I will not be able to give you the exact date because that would depend on the date announced by the Prime Minister's Office for the participation of PM on the last day of Pran Pratishtha, which has yet not been fixed. The date has not come from the Prime Minister's Office and we have to respect the decision of the PM's office in this matter," he added.
He was responding to a query about when the first batch of pilgrims will be able to visit the grand Lord Ram temple being built in Ayodhya.
Mr Misra, a former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said people want to know when would the temple be completed.
"Their dream has come true. The temple is a reality. The temple will be completed in two parts, the first past- Phase 1 will be completed by December 2023. The first part will be the ground floor of the temple which is about 2.6 acres of land. The ground floor has five mandaps, starting with the sanctum-sanctorum, where the deity would be installed," he said.
"There are 160 pillars on the ground floor, and each pillar has 25 iconographical works of different forms. The work on the lower plinth, which tells Ram Khatha, that is based on carving on the stone and it is taken from Valmiki Ramayan, about 50 per cent of that would be completed," he added.
Supreme Court's verdict in 2019 on the Ayodhya dispute paved the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple.
Following the Supreme Court verdict, the Centre had set up Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Tirtha Kshetra' Trust to take all decisions regarding the construction of a magnificent Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The construction of the temple has been progressing at a steady pace under the supervision of the Trust. The idol of Ram Lalla will be in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Ram Temple on August 5, 2020.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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