Awaiting a grand bhoomi pujan on August 5, the temple city Ayodhya has assumed a saffron hue with buildings across the main roads being painted with Ramayana episodes and over 20,000 earthen and copper kalash with soil and water from different places across the country reaching the city for the function.
“Ayodhya is being decorated with paintings of Ramayan era on walls and other places. It will be Diwali-like celebrations for three days from August 3 when all religious places, ghats, mutts will be lit up with diyas. Bhajans and religious songs will fill the air during these days,” Ayodhya MLA Ved Prakash Gupta said in Lucknow on Friday.
Gupta said that students of Arts faculty of Saket Degree College had drawn pictures of Ram, Laxman and other characters of Ramayana on the walls around the city. “Local artists have also joined them and made rangoli at important places of the city,” he said.
The legislator said that locals were not waiting for district administration directives as they had started a cleanliness drive in their respective areas.
“In some places people have already started recitation of akhand Ramayana,” he said.
Around 3,000 loudspeakers would be put up across the temple city to broadcast bhajans throughout the day. The speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also be played live along with other inputs on rituals of bhoomi pujan.
Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel and UP Religious Affairs Minister Dr Neelkant Tiwari along with Chief Secretary RK Tiwari and others inspected the city and reviewed preparations for the occasion. It was decided that all roads leading to Ram Janmabhoomi Complex would be sealed on August 4.
Meanwhile, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust office in-charge Prakash Gupta said that pilgrims had started pouring in from different parts of the country for participating in the bhoomi pujan.
He said they also carried sacred water and soil from different rivers and temples and deposited them in the Trust office.
“Already over 20,000 earthen and copper kalashs have arrived with sacred water of different rivers along with soil to be used for bhoomi pujan. However several thousands are on the way and around one lakh kalashs are expected to arrive from far-flung areas before August 5,” he said.
