Ram Temple inauguration: Krishna becomes Ram as Braj celebrates consecration

Krishna idols at Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura and at Sri Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan carried a bow and arrow in their hands instead of the flute.

Agra Euphoria gripped Braj region as it celebrated the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday, along with the rest of the nation.

Lord Krishna with bow and arrow in his hand at Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura on Monday. (HT)

In consonance with the Ram fiesta, the Krishna idols at Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura and at Sri Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan carried a bow and arrow in their hands instead of the flute, to portray the look of Lord Ram .

“Ram and Krishna are both incarnations of Lord Vishnu and so we chose to dress Lord Krishna like Lord Ram on this auspicious day when ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony took place in Ayodhya. The idol of Lord Krishna carried a bow and arrow, associated with Maryada Purshottam Ram, in place of the flute,” said Kapil Sharma, secretary of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Seva Sansthan in Mathura.

This gold plated bow and arrow were placed at the feet of Thakur Keshav Dev Ji Maharaj (another name of Lord Krishna) on Makar Sankranti, an auspicious day. Thakur Keshav Dev and Radha appeared more as ‘Siya Ram’ before devotees at Bhagwat Bhawan temple in Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi.

The consecration ceremony in Ayodhya was telecast live on a vast screen at Leela Manch on Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi premises on Monday, said Gopeshwar Chaturvedi, member of the Sewa Sansthan.

The celebrations were not confined only to Mathura, the epicentre of Braj. Rather all eight districts of Braj namely Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Mainpuri in Agra division and Aligarh, Etah, Kasganj and Hathras had similar scenes of temples and buildings decorated and lit up . People organised ‘bhandara’ (food distribution outlets) to distribute ‘prasad’.

Denizens, institutions and organisations were in a race to be part of the grand occasion and had even improvised ideas and plans to show their devotion to Lord Ram.

Any patient with ‘Ram’ in his name was treated free of charge in Etah city of Aligarh division on Monday. This was part of the offer made by doctors who were members of city chapter of Indian Medical Association. A number of dentists in Agra city decided to give free treatment to patients on Monday.

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These unusual initiatives were all part of efforts made by a cross-section of society just for being part of the glorious day of ‘Pran Pratishtha’ .

In fact, the entire Braj had been soaked in Ram fervour in the run-up to this grand occasion. Jalesar town in Etah district sent a ‘ghanta’ (bell) weighing 2100 kilogram to Ayodhya. Made of ‘áshta-dhatu’, the 6 ft high bell reached Ayodhya by road .

Petha varieties were sent from Agra city. Aligarh’s Dr Annapurna Bharti took a lock weighing 400 kg to Ayodhya.

On Makar Sankranti, 300 kg of ‘laddoo’ were sent from Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi. Holy water from river Yamuna and Braj-raj (soil of Braj) was carried by Sadhvi Ritambhara from Vrindavan. Silver ornaments were sent by the management of Sri Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan .

On Monday, devotees braved the dense fog and participated in various ‘shobha-yatra’ organised in all districts of Braj. ‘Ram Katha’, Ramcharitmanas and its chapters were recited at different locations. Shops of liquor and meat remained closed .