Mumbai Temples Gear Up To Celebrate Consecration Of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple

As countdown begins for the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, temples in Mumbai have drawn up elaborate programmes to mark the event. 

The city's main temple to the deity, Shree Ram Mandir Wadala, is renovating its sanctum for the event. The work, which began last week, will be completed in time for the Ayodhya inauguration.

The temple has announced a three-day programme beginning on January 20, two days before the Ayodhya event. Like many other temples in the city, the shrine, called the 'Ayodhya of Maharashtra' will have Palkhi ceremonies, havans, prayers, discourses, and cultural programmes.

"It is a dream come true"

"It is a dream come true for us Indians since the last few centuries. We never thought we would see the new temple in our lifetimes," said Anant Pai, vice-chairman of the Shree Samsthan Gokarn Partagali Jeevottam Math which manages the 60-year-old temple.

At the Wadala temple the festival will start with the Tarak Mantra Jaap Havan at 9.00 am on January 20. On January 22, the day of the ‘Pran Pratistha’ or consecration of the deity, devotees at the Wadala temple will begin a mass chanting of Ram Raksha Stotra one hour before the Ayodhya's main ceremony that will happen around noon. The deity will be ritually bathed with the waters of sacred rivers from Maharashtra in a ritual called Shata Kalashabhishek. The celebrations will culminate in the evening with a two-hour Shobha Yatra that will leave the shrine and travel along Wadala, Dr Ambedkar Road, Kings Circle, and Khalsa College, before returning back. The final events will be Deepotsav or festival of lights and Ratri Puja.

The other major Ram temple, Asthika Samaj at Matunga, will conduct rituals reserved for Ram Navami, the birthday of Lord Ram which will be observed in April this year. The rituals will include the Shodasa Kalashabhisekam which involves the anointing of the deity with dravyams, including honey, coconut water, and water. The religious programmes on January 22 will include Ganpati Homam, Rama Gayatri Homan, and Rama Pattabhisheka Homam. In the evening the temple near Maheshwari Udyan (Kings Circle, will be lit with 11,000 mud lamps in a ceremony called Dasa Sahasra Deepam. The deities Ram, Laxman, Sita, and Hanuman will be adorned with gold Kavachams in a ceremony called Alankara.

"This is a special year for us. We are celebrating 100 years of the consecration of Lord Ram at our temple and the 50th year of Kochu Guruvayoor (Lord Krishna). The Pran Pratistha at the Ayodhya temple has also come during the same period. We want to make the celebrations bigger. It's like Diwali and Ram Navami on the same day," said C V Subramanian, president of Asthika Samaj.

Other temples will follow a similar programme. "There have been instructions from religious leaders to conduct programmes during consecration of the temple. There are no written messages but every temple will have events," said a trustee of a temple.

The Hanuman Temple at Tilak Nagar, Chembur, will distribute akshata or consecrated rice brought from Ayodhya, to devotees who have been asked to bring lamps to light up the temple premises in the evening. Many temples will organise live screening of the rituals at Ayodhya.