'Divine experience and a proud moment' is how the 15 couples who were the 'mukhya yajman' for the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya described the grand event and said that the day will be forever etched in their memories.
While the 14 couples, including Dalits, tribals, backwards and upper castes, were chosen from across the country to perform the duty of yajmans or hosts for the main ceremony, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Anil Mishra and his wife presided over the daily rituals which began on January 16 ahead of the pran pratishtha ceremony.
Mishra is among the 15 trustees of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra which was formed in 2020 to oversee the construction of the temple.
"The day will be etched in our memories forever. Tears rolled down our eyes during the ceremony, it was such a divine experience," Anil Chaudhury, from the family of 'Dom Raja' told PTI.
Chaudhry performed the rituals along with his wife Sapna Devi.
Dom Raja is the guardian of the torch used to light pyres at Manikarnika and Harishchandra ghats in Varanasi and is considered the king of the lowest sub-caste among the Harijans.
Others on the 'yajman' list were Ramchandra Kharadi from Udaipur in Rajasthan, Ram Kui Jemi from Assam, Gurucharan Singh Gill from Jaipur in Rajasthan, Adalarasan from Tamil Nadu, Lingaraj Basavraj from Karnataka and Vitthal Rao Kamble from Maharashtra.
Mahadev Rao Gaikwad from Ghumantu Samaj Trust in Maharashtra's Latur, Dilip Valmiki from Lucknow, Kavindra Pratap Singh and Kailash Yadav from Kashi, Krishna Mohan from Hardoi, and Ramesh Jain from the Multani Lohar community in Uttar Pradesh, and Arun Chowdhury from Palwal in Haryana were also among the yajmans.
"It was a proud moment for us. Such a surreal experience... while we were inside, our family members were among the attendees. Just to be here on a historic day is a big deal for anybody and getting to perform the rituals... What more could I have asked from Lord Ram," Kamble told PTI.
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said it marked the advent of a new era.
Lakhs of people watched the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony on television at their homes and in neighbourhood temples, becoming part of the historic event.
Kailash Yadav who is convenor of Govardhan Puja Samiti, Varanasi and director of a district cooperative bank, said, "The kind of atmosphere one can see in Ayodhya today is something which cannot be grasped while watching it on TV. When we got to know that we had been chosen as yajmans, we couldn't believe it. It must be Lord Ram's desire that we were chosen to perform the rituals."
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.
The newly constructed Ram temple was opened for public day with a massive rush of devotees thronging to seek blessings from Lord Ram.
Ayodhya was all decked up ahead of the 'pran prathishtha' ceremony. Streetlights on flyovers have been decorated with artwork depicting Lord Ram, including cutouts of bow and arrow, and ornamental lamp posts are carrying designs themed on the traditional 'Ramanandi Tilak'.
