Quite disappointing
Ayodhya idol: Behind tin-sheet curtains, three sculptors in a secretive race for best Ram Lalla sculpture
Several times over the past month, a snowy-haired octogenarian has made rounds of a tin-sheet structure in Ayodhya’s Ramsevak Puram, about 1.5 km from the Ram temple site. Drawn to the structure by the “khat-khat aur machine ki awaaz (the sound of chisels and machines)”, Shanti Singh’s attempts to sneak a peek at the Ram Lalla idol which she has heard is being sculpted inside have so far come to naught.
Turned away by the armed UP Police personnel and the private security guard deployed at the site, the Ghazipur resident rued, “Maine kaha ek baar darshan kar lene do, pata nahi dobara aana ho paye ya nahin, magar police wale bole gupt hai (I requested the security to let me get one glimpse of the statue since I don’t know if I will be able to come back again, but they turned me away saying it was a secret).”
Sources said three Ram Lalla idols are currently being made in three workshops, each by a different sculptor, and that the “best of the three” idols would be installed in the temple’s sanctum sanctorum during the pran pratistha (consecration) ceremony, which is expected to be held in January 2024 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, set up by the Centre to build the Ram temple, refused to share information on the sculptors or the three workshops, sources confirmed that three tin structures, metres apart in Ramsevak Puram and each identical to the one outside which Shanti Singh stood, is where the idols are being sculpted.
All the three workshops, set up on land under the control of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), are rectangular structures, their nearly 15-foot-high walls and roof made of corrugated tin sheets and with a wrap-around grill between the wall and the ceiling for ventilation. The workshops are guarded 24/7 by armed personnel belonging to the state police and private security guards.
In an earlier interview to The Indian Express, Nripendra Misra, head of the Trust’s construction committee, had said a 51-inch idol, depicting Lord Ram as a child – a 4- to 5-year-old Ram Lalla – standing on a lotus, would be installed.
Misra had said, “The sanctum sanctorum or the garbha griha is on the ground floor. This is where the Lord will be in standing pose, 51 inches, roughly 4-5 years in age, on a lotus, with something in a manner that attains the height of 8 feet… work is being done to bring the light being funnelled such that it falls on the Lord’s forehead on Ram Navmi day. So, experts are (working out the parameters) factoring in the movement of the Earth around the Sun for 19 years. This will ensure that we can modulate, manually, so that on Ram Navmi day, the sunlight actually falls on the Lord’s forehead at 12 noon. This is being worked out by experts at Central Building Research Institute and the astronautical institute in Pune.”
Sources at Ramsevak Puram said that the idols are “taking time” since the sculptors are aiming for perfection.
“According to shastras, the idol of Ram Lalla should be beautiful and appear like his incarnation. The arms should be ajanubahu (reaches the knees), the eyes and ears attractive in shape and size, and the cheeks must appear soft. That is why it is taking time to make these idols,” a source said, adding that October is the deadline for completing the three idols.
A source said, “The sculptors are from Bengaluru, Mysore and Jaipur. They avoid interacting with the locals. They have been strictly prohibited from sharing details of the idols they are working on.”
A police officer deployed at one of the sites refused to speak to The Indian Express. Sources said police and security guards at these workshops have standing instructions to keep all unauthorised persons out. “Only Trust office-bearers, sculptors and supporting artisans are permitted to enter the workshops, which are always locked from inside,” they added.
Adjacent to the first workshop stands another tin structure, called Ram Katha Kunj. A CCTV camera installed at the entrance of the Ram Katha Kunj keeps an eye on the workshop. At Ram Katha Kunj, the VHP has commissioned sculptor Ranjeet Mandal to make 151 sculptures depicting various phases of Lord Ram’s life, from Ayodhya to Lanka.
“I have only heard from others that a Ram idol is being made inside the workshop next door. I have never gone inside. No one is allowed (to go in there), except the sculptor,” Mandal said.
A source said, “The sculptor has placed a photograph of Lord Ram on a table in the workshop, but the idol is being carved under another layer of cover.”
Barely 150 metres from this workshop is the second tin-sheet structure where, sources said, the second idol was being made.
The sources said that the sculptor at this workshop has put up over two dozen photographs of “healthy and good-looking children aged between 4 and 5 years for inspiration to make the ideal face and body for Ram Lalla”.
About 200 metres from the second workshop is a similar corrugated tin-sheet structure, where the third idol is being carved.
To a query by The Indian Express on the idols, Trust general-secretary Champat Rai said, “Work is on. The three murtikars (sculptors) are working on them at undisclosed locations in Ayodhya. No one is allowed to see these workshops.”
Trust member Anil Mishra also refused to disclose the locations of the workshops. However, he added, “The final decision on the idol will be taken by a committee under Trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri ji Maharaj.”
Swami Giri was unavailable for a comment.
Lalmani Verma – 2023-09-30 14:37