R-Day: UP tableau displays Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, Deepotsava celebration

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday displayed its cultural city of Ayodhya as a part of a tableau during the Republic Day parade in Delhi with the theme ‘Ayodhya: Cultural Heritage of Uttar Pradesh’. It included the iconic Ram Temple, which is under construction currently, the annual Deepotsav festival and a pictorial representation of events from the epic Ramayana.

The first part of the tableau showed Maharishi Valmiki composing the Ramayana. The middle part depicted the Ram Mandir, which is the epitome of Ayodhya’s cultural identity associated with mass sentiments and devotion. The mural on the trailer displayed several scenes from the Ramayana such as the salvation of Ahilya, Kewat Samvad, and Lord Hanuman bringing Sanjivani Buti, Jatayu-Ram Samvad, Ashok Vatika etc.

The forepart of the middle portion of the trailer showed Deepotsava of Ayodhya, started by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017, during which millions of earthen lamps are lit. Due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, the state government launched a website to allow people to take part in a virtual ‘Deepotsav’ celebration on November 13, 2020. Nearly 590,000 earthen lamps were lit on the occasion which led to Guinness World records books registering last year’s Deepotsav festival as ‘the largest display of oil lamps’.

On August 5 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the bhoomi pujan for the construction of the Ram Temple. The entire ceremony lasted for 40 minutes after which PM Modi released a postage stamp on the temple which was designed by the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, an organisation of the UP government’s culture department.

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The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) started the collection of funds for constructing the Ram Temple on January 15. It is also expected to meet several opposition party leaders for collecting construction funds. “The funds will be collected in a transparent way. The teams deputed to collect the funds will have to deposit the money within 48 hours in designated bank accounts. Deposits will be made in branches of Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank,” Alok Kumar, VHP’s international working president, had said.

(With agency inputs)