Ayodhya, Nov 13: The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday went all out in marking the homecoming of Lord Ram to this holy town – the mythical event in ‘treta yug’ on which the festival of Diwali is based. Along the way, the organisers broke a world record. As dusk fell, volunteers lit up over six lakh earthen lamps lined up on the Saryu riverbank. A team from the Guinness World Records was present to see if it made it to their book.
Hours later, team leader Nishchal Barot gave the final count as 6,06,569 diyas, telling PTI that it was “largest display of oil lamps” in the world. An organiser said about 8,000 volunteers, drawn from a local college and NGOs, were involved in the feat.
The “Deepotsav” included the reenactment of the arrival of God Ram and Goddess Sita to Ayodhya on their ‘pushpak viman’, a laser and sound show and cultural programmes.
Actors representing the deities of Ram, Sita and Lakshman descended in a helicopter that sprinkled rose petals – a modern take on the ‘pushpak viman’ that brought Lord Ram back home after 14 years in exile.
The deities were received by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. This was the fourth annual Ayodhya Deepotsav, and the first since the ‘bhoomi pujan’ in August for a Ram temple in the city. Its construction has begun following last year’s Supreme Court verdict that settled the temple-mosque land dispute.
The CM and the Governor visited the Ram Mandir site along with other UP and some bureaucrats. Adityanath gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi the credit for the just-begun construction of the Ram Mandir. “Our generation is not only fortunate to see the start of construction of a Ram temple here but we also attended the historic event,” he said, adding that generations of seers died without the dream being realised.
“I thank PM Modi, who is the one who implemented the ideology of Ram Rajya,” Adityanath said in his speech to about 1,000 guests at the Ram Katha Park. With COVID-19 protocols in place, the event was not open to the public. (PTI)
