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As many as 14 couples from various parts of the country will perform the duty of 'yajmans' (hosts) during the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.
Sunil Ambekar, the Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), said that according to the information given by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust the rituals commenced on January 16 and Saturday was the fifth day."A temple worship has comprehensive rituals under the Hindu religion. There are a number of 'adhivaas," he told PTI on Saturday.
"In the main 'pran pratistha' puja, 14 couples will be participating. They are from the north, east, west, south and northeast part of India. They will be the 'mukhya yajmaan' (main hosts)," he said.
The 'yajman' list contains the name of Ramchandra Kharadi from Udaipur; Ram Kui Jemi from Assam; Gurucharan Singh Gill from Jaipur; Krishna Mohan from Hardoi; Ramesh Jain from Multani; Adalarasan from Tamil Nadu and Vitthal Rao Kamnle from Maharashtra.
Mahadev Rao Gaikwad from Ghumantu Samaj Trust in Maharashtra's Latur; Lingaraj Basavraj from Karnataka; Dilip Valmiki from Lucknow; Anil Chaudhary from the family of Dom Raja; Kailash Yadav from Kashi; Arun Chowdhury from Palwal in Haryana and Kavindra Pratap Singh from Kashi are also in the list.
"They will be participating with their wives in the ceremony. There is widespread participation ('sahbhaag'), and comprehensive puja is being held, as prescribed in religious texts," Ambekar said.
He said that people from all parts of the country wanted a temple constructed at the birthplace of Lord Ram. "A number of people struggled for it. People from different corners of the country were involved in various programmes and campaigns related to this."
"So many people want to be associated with the temple, because this is a historic moment. This is a festival of India, and a festival of unity for the Hindu society," he said.
The rituals performed on Saturday included the Ram idol being offered sugar and flowers sourced from different regions of the country. Some of these flowers have either arrived or are en route via special flights for a ritual known as "Pushpadhivaas".
Another significant aspect of the ceremony involved bathing the idol and purifying the Garbh Grih (sanctum sanctorum) with water collected from various religious sites across the nation, stored in 81 consecrated kalash.
The rituals which began on January 16 are being performed by RSS leader Anil Mishra and his wife Usha. Mishra (63) is one of the 15 trustees of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra that was formed in 2020 to oversee the construction of the Temple.
With just two days to go for the consecration ceremony, the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya has been decorated with "rich stocks" of flowers and special lights for the mega event, officials said on Saturday.
The entire temple town is drenched in religious fervour or as is the common refrain among the locals, "Ayodhya Rammay ho rahi hai".
The new 51-inch idol of Ram Lalla, sculpted by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj, was placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple on Thursday afternoon.
The first image of the new idol placed inside the sanctum sanctorum with eyes covered with a cloth had surfaced on social media late Thursday night.
The Supreme Court delivered a historic verdict in 2019, settling a temple-mosque dispute that dated back more than a century. The court backed the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for building a mosque.
Ayodhya is all decked up ahead of the 'Pran Prathishtha' ceremony. Streetlights on flyovers have been decorated with artworks depicting Lord Ram, including cutouts of bow and arrow, and ornamental lamp posts are carrying designs themed on the traditional 'Ramanandi tilak'.