Rituals Begin at Ram Temple for Mega Consecration Ceremony

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh: The run-up to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22 began today with a series of rituals, led by a member of the temple trust and his wife. These rituals will reach their finale with the consecration, or ‘pran pratishtha, of the idol of Ram Lalla at the  new temple in Ayodhya. “The ‘anushthan’ has started and will continue till January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony. Eleven priests are performing the rituals invoking all goddesses and gods,” Ram temple chief priest Satyendra Das said. The ‘yajman’ at the rituals – including the ones conducted on the final consecration days – is trust member Anil Mishra and his wife Usha Mishra  Typically, the ‘yajman’ is the main “host” of a “puja” – the person on whose behalf the prayers are offered. Mishra hasto attend the rituals on all days, including on January 22 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present. Mr Mishra confirmed that he is the “yajman” for the ceremony. PM Modi is scheduled to deliver a speech at the end of the consecration ceremony, expected to be attended by 8,000 guests. But only a handful of them will be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The trust said there are seven adhivasas in the ‘pran pratishtha’and a minimum of three adhivasas are in practice. There are 121 ‘acharyas’ who are conducting the rituals and Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid is overseeing, coordinating and directing all proceedings of the “anushthan”. The principal ‘acharya’ will be Laxmikant Dixit of Kashi. Over the next week, rituals like ‘teerth poojan’, ‘jal yatra’ and ‘gandhadhivas’ will take place. On Monday, the ‘prayaschita’ and ‘karmakuti poojan’ took place. The Ram temple ‘pran pratishtha’ will begin at 12.20 pm on January 22 and is expected to end by 1 pm, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai told reporters on Monday. Settling a fractious issue that goes back more than a century, the apex court in a historic verdict in 2019 backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town. Prime Minister Modi performed the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the temple in August 2020, bringing to fruition the BJP’s ‘mandir’ movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power. Hyderabad: India’s COVID- 19 vaccine, Corbevax, has been granted an Emergency Use Listing by the World Health Organisation, the company which manufactures it in India said Hyderabad today. Corbevax is based on a protein sub-unit platform and manufactured by the pharmaceutical firm Biological E Limited in India. Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E Ltd said: “We are pleased with the WHO Emergency Use Listing  because it would help us use the platform to continue developing COVID-19 vaccines as and when it starts impacting public health. We are confident that this endorsement from WHO will bolster our global fight againstCOVID-19.” The Drugs Controller General of India had already approved Corbevax for restricted use in emergency among adults, adolescents and young children in a sequentialmanner from December 2021to April 2022. It was also givenapproval for use as India’s first heterologous COVID-19 Dhanu Jatra, World’s Largest Open-Air Theatre Bargarh: The Dhanu Jatra, the largest open-air theatre in the world, kicked off with a colourful inauguration programme at Odisha’s Bargarh town onMonday evening. It was inaugurated by Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari, MLA Debesh  Acharya, District Collector Monisha Banerjee, and SP Prahlad Sahai Meena. The 11-day annual theatre, first staged in 1947 to celebrate India’s Independence, is celebrating its 76th anniversary this year and is performed on several stages built over an area of an 8- km radius in Bargarh municipality and adjoining areas. The theme of this world-famous open-air theatre is ‘Mathura Vijay’ – the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon king Kansa. According to mythology demon king Kansa tries to kill his nephew Lord Krisha in various ways but in the end, Lord Krishna destroys the demon king and frees the people of Mathura from his evil rule. On this occasion, the Bargarh town is decorated to represent Mathura, while the nearby Ambapali village turns into the mythological Gopapura. Similarly, the Jeera River near Bargarh is considered as Yamuna during Dhanu Jatra.

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