Degrees of devotion in the journey of faith in Ayodhya as Ram Temple inaugurated
Apart from many free kitchens being run across Ayodhya, residents held bhandaras near the Ram Mandir to ensure that none of the devotees go back hungry
It was a different journey of faith – this youth’s face was scratched all over and smeared by dust as he rubbed it into the ground each time while pulling his body forward – a ritual he started from Hanuman Garhi on way to the Ram Mandir, some 1.5 km away.
Totally unmindful of the sea of humanity that had descended in Ayodhya on Tuesday, this devotee held a saffron flag and kept moving forward as a man in saffron clothes walked besides him chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
A girl also moved ahead of him, clearing the ground with her hands as security forces also respectfully gave way to the group.
“Mere Ram aaye hain ... mere prabhu aaye hain ... 500 saal baad, main unse milne ja raha hoon (my Ram has come, my lord has arrived, and I am going to meet him),” the youth said.
“He took a pledge that he would visit the Ram Temple like this. He is merely keeping a promise he made to himself,” said the man accompanying the youth while explaining that the process was part of the “self-torture” people afflict themselves with to atone for sins, whether committed by them or for others.
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A little distance away Dhruv Upadhyay, 20, from Kanpur, a student of BA Sanskrit from Delhi University (DU) walked barefoot with his mother to the Ram Mandir.
“It’s the joy of witnessing the sight of Ram in his abode. Imagine so many of our brothers were killed for this (temple movement) in 1990. In fact, I came without telling my father, a police officer, as he was away. As I was setting out, my mother also decided to accompany me. So, here we are,” he said.
OF BARRICADES & CROWD CONTROL AT RAM MANDIR
From the Hanuman Garhi side, a sea of devotees pushed the first barrier for the Ram Mandir but cops on the other side, clearly caught off-guard, held them off.
“This isn’t working. We will have to get some barriers erected,” a senior IPS officer said. While the cops tried to hold the devotees, at other end, some security personnel devised a special plan to regulate crowd flow. Instead of opening the main barriers, they started letting the devotees through a narrow opening on the underside, one through which the devotees would have to sit and enter.
Why so? “This is a way to regulate the flow,” said a CRPF officer managing the barrier. A little ahead at another barrier, a security personnel said around 1.5 lakh devotees had visited the temple already.
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“They could be more, so this number is just a guesstimate,” the security personnel offered.
“Controlling devotees is difficult. Yesterday evening itself after the consecration event, pressure had started building up and some of them driven by faith even tried to break the barriers. Some, including us, sustained minor injuries but what can you do? You can’t treat devotees like outlaws,” an officer of the Rapid Protection Force (RPF) said.
Another RPF officer appeared elated that he managed to have both the ‘darshan and get the prasad’ too. “This Ram Temple is like a dream come true for millions and this includes us as well,” said this officer, an OBC from Kannauj.
An officer was seen helping a wheelchair-bound devotee enter the Ram Mandir. At another place Rakesh Mago, a wheelchair-bound lawyer from Punjab and his family, praised the police for helping them.
“We didn’t face any problem, thanks to these police officers who went out of their way to ensure that we don’t face any problems,” Rakesh said. The family from Jammu came to visit the Ram temple with a wheelchair-bound octogenarian.
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“No problem. All in Ram’s name and all is worth the effort,” they said. The youngest of the family, a seven-year-old girl, looked most excited. “I am from Jammu and I have come to meet Ram ji,” she said with a little prodding from her mother.
RAM MANDIR SELFIE
As there was no ban on carrying cell phones right till Ram Mandir, everyone with a smart phone was clicking selfies with the temple in the background and connecting with family members. Security personnel too were affected by the craze. “Yeh dekho, Ram ji ka mandir (look, look, this is the temple of Ram),” said one of them after apparently connecting with his family. Commandos of the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) too were on duty. These commandos were primarily tasked with guarding against any terror attack.
AYODHYA OPENS ITS HEART, WELCOMES DEVOTEES
Apart from the many free kitchens being run across Ayodhya by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Teerth Kshetra Trust and others, nearer to the Ram Mandir Ayodhya residents held bhandaras to ensure that none of the devotees go back hungry. Hotels like Shri Ram Hotel on the Ram Path or Amma ki Rasoi run by Sanjay Maheshwari were also running free kitchens.
SOME COULDN’T MAKE IT DUE TO RUSH
A woman was seen sitting on the ground to feed her infant daughter. “We had gone to the temple but couldn’t muster courage to queue up as it ran for several kilometers,” said her husband Neer Kumar, a bike mechanic from Haryana. There were many like them.
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‘HANUMAN’ FROM ODISHA
Two persons from Odisha had come dressed as Hanuman, complete in the attire and with a mace.
“We managed to get a darshan of our lord and we feel blessed,” they said. What about the rush? “Most of it was outside. Once inside we sensed divinity,” they said.
EVENING TIME AND MODI SPEECH...
It’s evening time and some distance away from Ram Mandir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech that he delivered during the Ram Temple inauguration was being broadcast through loudspeakers. Some youths posed at a ‘Modi selfie point’ while music played loud at Lata Mangeshkar Chowk.
... and kand mool phal
Outside the Kanak Bhawan, a person sat on the floor selling ‘Kand Mool Phal.’ What’s that?
“This was a fruit Lord Ram ate during his period in exile. I get these from Chitrakoot and surrounding areas where it’s found,” said this person who introduced himself as Munnu as he sold a white slice of the Kand Mool for ₹10. Some people who were seen tasting it described it as tasty.
