Rush of pilgrims continues to swell in Ayodhya
Sanjeev K Sharma
AYODHYA, Mar 29: Within a few years of its construction, the Ram temple at Ayodhya has now become one of the most visited shrines of the country where the visiting pilgrims from different parts of India claim that it was only the blessing of Lord Rama which empowered them to perform the spiritual pilgrimage.
However, Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Rama, is presently enveloped with multiple security covers and the movement of vehicles is also restricted near the temple to prevent any untoward incident in the hands of anti-social elements.
With devotion in their hearts and airing the slogans of “Jai Shree Ram”, a large number of devotees are daily seen moving towards the temple of Lord Rama to pay obeisance at the holy sanctum sanctorum.
Enthusiasm among the visiting pilgrims remains so high that they even forget their physical ailments and age factors keeping in mind that it was a “call from the deity” and they have to perform the pilgrimage at the shrine of “Bhagwan Shri Ram.”
Visiting pilgrims at the Ram temple also include many physically challenged persons and a few elders who were unable to walk due to knee ailments or some other reasons and such pilgrims are helped by the temple volunteers or their accompanying relatives to move ahead on the wheelchairs and also they cross one security barrier after the other to reach the sanctum sanctorum while in between they too prove their identities before the cops on duty by showing their identity cards.
Chandani, 57, a housewife from Howrah (in West Bengal) was on a visit to Ayodhya for the first time to offer prayers at the birth place of Lord Rama.
It was about 12.30 pm and she along with other members of her group were waiting outside the temple at a Police frisking point as the place of worship was to reopen at 1 pm after daily ‘Bhog’ ceremony.
Chandani informed that though travelling remained her hobby and she has visited most of the popular places in the country but her visit at the birth place of Lord Rama was to get a spiritual boost.
She smiled and said that her visit to the religious place was not possible without the spiritual invitation from “Bhagwan Ram”.
Echoing similar views, her another group member, her sibling, Deepavita, 31, who works with a company at Midnapore (in West Bengal) stated that they will pray to Lord Rama for the wellbeing of their families and the whole world.
Another group included all the members who were also the first time visitors to Ayodhya and this group was led by Sunanda Bhavsaar, 53, also a housewife from Pune (in Maharashtra).
“We are here to offer prayers at the temple of Bhagwan Shree Ram for the welfare of all including our families and other loved ones,” Sunanda told this reporter.
Her brother, Prabhat and other group members claimed that they were all above 50, and most of them were having knee problems but they all were dropped by an auto rickshaw about 2 km away from the shrine from where they covered all the distance on foot as there was no other means available there to reach the temple.
As the number of visiting devotees at the shrine continue to swell, it gave the local economy an upward push while a number of steps have also been taken by the temple management and the Government of Uttar Pradesh to facilitate the visiting devotees, which further has made the pilgrimage smoother and easier.
Outside the Ram Temple, there remained certain people earning their livelihood by serving the devotees and some of these people sell Prasad, others have kiosks selling flags of Lord Rama, idols of Rama etc.
Without any shop or kiosk, Banke Lal Mishra, 60, a local of UP from district Bahrich remained moving outside the temple holding bowls containing vermilion, Chandan and few other things using which he applies a special Tilak over the foreheads of the visiting pilgrims and his Tilak contain “Jai Shree Ram” written in Hindi.
Mishra informed that just for applying Tilak on the foreheads of the visiting devotees at the temple, the devotees give him some money ranging from Rs. 10 to Rs. 100, though he never asks for any money and never argues over the amount and in this way he daily earns about Rs. 300-500.
“I also take time in between and visit the Saryu Ghat on the bank of the revered river to offer my Tilak services to the pilgrims there and my earnings from the Saryu Ghat remains more as compared to what I earn from outside the Ram Temple because after the holy bath in the pious waters of Saryu, people feel it auspicious to have a Tilak of Bhagwan Ram over their foreheads,” he said.
Vikas Srivatsav, 23, from Patna (in Bihar), runs a roadside kiosk near Saryu Ghat in Ayodhya, where he sells flags, idols of Lord Rama, rosaries etc.
“My daily earnings at this kiosk move around Rs. 500 though on some special days like Ramnavmi etc, I even earn Rs. 1200-1500 on a single day,” he informed adding: “Behaviour of the visiting pilgrims has so far remained good with him and he also charges genuinely for the products which he sells to his customers.”
A seer who identified himself as Saroj Das at Hanuman Gari temple in Ayodhya informed that since the court verdict about the Ram Temple was announced, number of visiting pilgrims to Ayodhya started increasing daily even much before the temple construction had started and today everything has been revolutionised in the area.
He also mentioned about a large number of developments in the area and claimed that all these have changed the lives of the locals there.
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