2100-kg bell, 108-ft-long incense stick: Gifts for Ayodhya temple from across country, abroad

New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) A 108-foot-long incense stick, a 2,100-kg bell, a giant lamp weighing 1,100 kg, gold footwear, a 10-foot-high lock and key, and a clock that simultaneously denotes time in eight countries are among the special gifts sent for the Ram temple in Ayodhya ahead of the consecration ceremony on January 22.

The artistes behind the unique gifts are hoping their gifts will be used at the grand temple.

Adding to the religious fervour, the gifts are being received from all parts of the country and even abroad.

More than 3,000 gifts for Lord Ram from Sita’s birthplace in Janakpur in Nepal have arrived in Ayodhya. The gifts, including silver shoes, ornaments and clothes, were transported in a convoy of around 30 vehicles from the Janakpur Dham Ramjanaki Temple in Nepal to Ayodhya this week.

A Sri Lankan delegation also visited Ayodhya with a special gift from the Ashok Vatika. The delegation presented a rock from the Ashok Vatika, a garden mentioned in the epic Ramayana where Ravan captivated Sita.

The first phase of the temple is nearing completion and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the consecration ceremony at the temple on January 22.

The Supreme Court delivered a historic verdict in 2019, settling a temple-mosque dispute that dated back more than a century. The court backed the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for building a mosque.

Ahead of the grand ceremony, the temple authorities have been receiving numerous gifts.

A 108-foot-long incense stick, which weighs 3,610 kg and is almost 3.5 feet wide, has been prepared in Gujarat’s Vadodara over a period of six months.

“The stick is environmental friendly and will last for about one-and-a-half months, spreading its fragrance over several kilometers,” Vadodara resident Viha Bharwad, who has prepared the incense stick, told PTI.

He said 376 kg guggul (gum resin), 376 kg coconut shells, 190 kg ghee, 1,470 kg cow dung, 420 kg herbs are among the ingredients used for the stick, whose height is nearly half of the iconic Qutab Minar in Delhi.

Bharwad and 25 other devotees left Vadodara with the huge incense stick on January 1 and their convoy will reach Ayodhya on January 18.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel flagged off a 44-foot-long brass flag pole and other smaller six flag poles in Ahmedabad last week for the “pran pratistha” ceremony.

Gujarat has also sent a nagaru (temple drum) crafted by the All India Dabgar Samaj in Dariyapur. The 56-inch nagaru made of gold foil will be installed in the courtyard of the temple.

Satya Prakash Sharma, a locksmith from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, has prepared a lock and key weighing 400 kg with 10 feet height, 4.6 feet width and 9.5 inches thickness.

“This is the world’s largest lock and key. I have gifted it to the trust so it can be used as a symbolic lock at the temple,” he told PTI.

A bell weighing 2,100 kg made of ‘ashtadhatu’ (an alloy of eight metals) has been prepared in Etah’s Jalesar in Uttar Pradesh.

“It took two years to prepare the bell. The bell is being sent to Ayodhya after performing all rituals and with pomp and show,” said an artisan involved in preparing the bell.

A Lucknow-based vegetable vendor has especially designed a clock that denotes the time in eight countries at the same time. Anil Kumar Sahu (52) said he gifted the clock measuring 75 cm in diameter to Champat Rai, the general secretary of the temple trust.

Sahu said that he first made the clock in 2018, and it was given the ‘certificate of registration of design’ by the Patent Office, Government of India. The clock denotes the time of India, Tokyo (Japan), Moscow (Russia), Dubai (UAE), Beijing (China), Singapore, Mexico City (Mexico), Washington DC and New York (US).

Chef Vishnu Manohar, who is based in Nagpur, has announced that he will prepare 7,000 kg of “Ram Halwa”, a traditional sweet dish, for the devotees who will attend the consecration ceremony.

The Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan in Mathura is preparing to send 200 kilograms of laddu to Ayodhya as an offering for a ‘yagya’.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, has also announced it will send one lakh laddu for distribution to devotees on the big day.

A special saree prepared in Gujarat’s Surat city, a major textile hub of the country, will be sent to the templ authorities.

The saree, with pictures of Lord Ram and the Ayodhya temple printed on it, is meant for Lord Ram’s wife Sita, reverentially known as Ma Janaki, and the first piece was offered to a temple in Surat on Sunday.

A diamond merchant from Surat has made a necklace on the theme of the Ram temple using 5,000 American diamonds and 2 kg silver. Forty artisans completed the design in 35 days and the necklace has been gifted to the Ram Mandir trust.

With an unwavering devotion towards Lord Ram and a desire to fulfil his ‘kar sevak’ father’s dream, 64-year-old Challa Srinivas Sastry from Hyderabad has reached Ayodhya on foot, covering a distance of nearly 8,000 km, to present gold-plated footwear for the lord.

Arvindbhai Mangalbhai Patel, a farmer residing in Vadodara, has crafted a giant lamp weighing 1,100 kg.

“The lamp is 9.25 feet high and 8 feet wide. It has a capacity for 851 kg of ghee. The lamp is made from ‘panchadhatu’ (gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron),” Patel said.