This Bengaluru institute played a key role in ‘Surya Tilak’ on Ram Lalla at Ayodhya

The preliminary project design was implemented with four mirrors and two lenses, and the final design will have four mirrors and four lenses.

The project ‘Surya Tilak’, which produced the illumination of the Ram Lalla idol’s forehead on Ram Navami, was designed by a team of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru. The preliminary project design was implemented with four mirrors and two lenses, and the final design will have four mirrors and four lenses.

This Bengaluru institute played a key role in ‘Surya Tilak’ on Ram Lalla

Abhay Karandikar, the Department of Science and Technology secretary, said that the ritual would be repeated every year. In an X post, Abhay wrote, “Indian Institute of Astrophysics @IIABengaluru, an autonomous body under @IndiaDST, has played a crucial role in the #SuryaTilak Project at #Ayodhya. Sunlight was directed onto the forehead of Sri Ram Lalla at 12 noon on April 17, 2024, on the occasion of Sri #RamNavami in the Chaitra month, and this ritual will be repeated every year.”

 

Explaining the technology behind the science behind the creation of the illumination, Abhay said, “The team led by @IIABengaluru carried out calculations of the Sun's position, designed and optimized the optical system, and performed the integration and alignment at the site. As the temple is not fully completed now, the IIA experts modified the design to suit the existing structure and performed image optimization. This design, with four mirrors and two lenses, was executed for the Surya Tilak. The final design of the Surya Tilak, with four mirrors and four lenses, will be implemented once the full temple is constructed by placing the mirrors and lenses in their permanent fixtures.”

According to a senior scientist of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, the planned tilak size is 58 mm. The exact period of tilak on the forehead centre was about three to three-and-a-half minutes, with two minutes of full illumination.

The device that helped the illumination to reflect on Ram Lalla idol was manufactured by Optica in Bengaluru and the implementation was done at Central Building Research Institute. “The English calendar date of Sri Ram Navami festival changes every year as it follows Lunar Calendar. Therefore, the position of the sun on the sky changes every year on the day of Sri Ram Navami. Detailed calculations show that the English calendar date of Sri Ram Navami repeats every 19 years. Calculating the position of the sun in the sky on these days requires expertise in astronomy. Opto-mechanical design of the lens and mirror holder assembly, and manual mechanism were carried out to shift the position of the first mirror according to the position of the Sun in the sky,” Abhay further wrote in an X post

. PM Narendra Modi watched the ‘Surya Tilak’ on Ram Lalla idol and called it an ‘emotional moment.