Ram Janmabhoomi Trust to meet in Delhi to select rock for Ram Lalla idol

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will hold a meeting in Delhi on Saturday to take a final decision on the rock that will be used for the Ram Lalla idol to be placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the under-construction Ayodhya temple, said a Trust member.

The Trust had constituted a committee of sculptors to select the best rock and they will hand over their reports at the meeting. The Trust has procured five rocks from Karnataka, four from Rajasthan, one from Odisha and two from Nepal. The most suitable rock will be selected for the idol.

Nepal’s former deputy prime minister Bimalendra Nidhi, who had played a key role in completing all paperwork and legal formalities before sending the rocks to Ayodhya, will also attend the meeting. He had also played a crucial role in passing a proposal for handover of the rocks to the Trust in the cabinet meeting of the then government in Nepal.

The Trust’s search for the most suitable rocks began in 2020. After much deliberation, it decided to procure rocks from the Gandaki river in the Muktinath area of the Himalayan nation.

The Trust then roped in renowned sculptors to prepare Ram Lalla’s idol. It also decided to install a statue replicating the childhood of the deity.

Sudarshan Sahu and Vasudev Kamath of Odisha, KV Maniya of Karnataka and Shashtrayajya Deulkar of Pune have sent models of the Ram Lalla idol. The Trust will select one of them.

According to Champat Rai, general secretary of the Trust, the idol will be around 8.5 feet high so that the Sun’s rays can fall on it.