Why Ayodhya's Ram temple to be shut for 1 hr every day

Ayodhya's Ram temple will remain closed for an hour in the afternoon every day from Friday onwards, the chief priest of the Ram temple said.

Considering the flood of devotees to the temple following the consecration ceremony, the temple trust has increased the time of 'darshan' from 6 am to 10 pm.

Since January 23, the deity was woken up at 4 am for morning rituals. It takes around two hours before devotees are allowed to have 'darshan' and it continues till 10 pm.

"Shri Ram Lalla is a five-year-old child and he cannot take the stress of staying awake for such long hours. So to give some rest to the child deity, the trust has decided that the doors of the temple will remain closed from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm, so that the deity may take rest," Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest, told PTI.

Before the consecration ceremony, the timing of 'darshan' was from 7 am to 6 pm, including a two-hour afternoon break from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm.