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Sangam city celebrates Ram Lalla’s consecration
The city of Sangam celebrated the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya with special prayers, Bhajans, and free meals provided by local businesses and residents. Other activities included blood donation camps, Bhajan sessions, and live telecasts of the ceremony.
Special prayers, recitation of Akhand Ramayan and Sunderkand, singing of Bhajans, decked up buildings and temples sporting colourful decorative lighting and saffron ‘Ramnami’ flags bearing the name or picture of Lord Ram, dotted markets and by-lanes across the length and breadth of Sangam City as it got drenched in celebration marking the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday.
As the city celebrated the ‘Pran Pratisha’ ceremony of the newly built Ayodhya temple, people from of all walks of life celebrated the occasion in their own special way: Tea stall owners offering free cups of tea to passers-by on an overcast and chilly day, roadside Dhabhas and food kiosks offering free meals besides Bhandaras at temples and localities by people who pooled money to make it possible.
At one such apartment complex ‘Divyakunj’, on Cooper Road, in Civil Lines, the entire building was decked up with saffron ‘Ramnami’ flags and decorative lights. “Residents of all the around two dozen flats took part in the Sunderkand Path and Bhajan session organised to mark this special day,” said Sanjay Jangwan, owner of a medicine shop.
To celebrate the much-awaited consecration ceremony of Lord Ram’s idol at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a small, nondescript restaurant ‘Dhaba’ located at Attarsuiya crossing did its bit to celebrate the occasion. The strictly vegetarian restaurant ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ didn’t charge a single penny from customers coming to have meals all through the day. “Besides, we also organised a grand Bhandara (community feast) in the evening to ensure that not a single person, be it local wage earners, rickshaw or trolley pullers, migrants or even stray animals in the locality sleep without having food on this special day,” said owner Dilip Kumar ‘Kakey’ who’s known for running such community feasts often for the welfare of downtrodden people.
Kumar said that being such a pious occasion, they decided to first wash the kitchen thoroughly, so that all the meals prepared here can be symbolically offered to Lord Ram. “Today’s menu was all about Satvik meals with no onion or garlic. It included different Paneer dishes, Dal, vegetables, chutney, raita and so on. Different rotis are also included in the menu. Likewise in the evening Poori Sabzi will be offered as we don’t want anyone to return disappointed from our restaurant. I’m happy that all my family members also supported me in this endeavour,” he added.
Striving to spread awareness regarding the importance and need of voluntary blood donation by common man in India, blood donation activist of Sangam city, Rajiv Mishra, 45, marked the day with a blood donation camp at Tej Bahadur Sapru (Beli) Hospital and himself donating blood for the 100th time. “This is my humble service to Lord Ram, which, I hope, will motivate people to donate blood and save lives,” said Mishra, who in August 2019, created a world record with his feat of travelling 5,127 km from Prayagraj to Nagarcoil near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to donate blood. He was awarded a certificate from the World Book of Records (UK), London for this achievement.
Even the sprawling Magh Mela-2024 tent city on the banks of Sangam saw seers, pilgrims and Kalpwasis join in with Bhajan and Kirtan session in different camps, even as chilly winds gushed across the open expanse and the city recorded a minimum temperature of 6.3 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.
Various programmes were also organised in the symbolic under-construction Ram temple located at Triveni Pushp. Arun Saraswat of Parmarth Niketan, who is overseeing the renovation of Triveni Pushp, said that Bhajans and Bhandara on the premises saw hundreds congregate on the occasion.
The Pran Pratistha ceremony in Ayodhya was also telecast live on eight LED screens. Ramayana serial was also shown to pilgrims and visitors. Later Sunderkand recitation and Prasad distribution in the evening was also held in the Jal Jeevan Mission pandal.
The district administration also arranged live telecast of the consecration ceremony at 60 places across the district. The programme was also broadcast on LED screens installed in the Magh Mela area. Magh Mela in-charge officer Dayanand Prasad said that apart from this, a live telecast of the programme was also done through mobile vans. BJP leaders also arranged for live telecast of the ceremonies at over 250 places. Many business and trade organisations had also made arrangements for this at different intersections.
