Patna soaks in Ram fervour; temples, people plan spl celebrations today

PATNA: Not only Ayodhya but Patna is also soaked in religious fervour for the consecration (pran pratishtha) ceremony of Ram Lalla on Monday. People and the temples management committees have planned to celebrate the occasion in a festive mood.

While prayers, kirtan and shobha yatras would be organised in daytime, the temples and a large number of residents have planned lighting of ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps) in the evening.

Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai on Sunday said the ‘pran pratishtha’ of Ram Lalla would be celebrated as ‘Ramjyoti Utsav’ at the Panchmukhi Hanuman temple on Nehru Path (Bailey Road) Monday evening.

ISKCON temple at Patna would light up 1.25 lakh diyas to mark the historic occasion at Ayodhya, said its spokesman Nand Gopal Das. Eight tonnes of flowers were brought in from different states for decoration of the temple, he added.

An impressive replica of the Ayodhya temple has been displayed near Dak Bungalow Chowk where Sri Ramnavami Shobhayatra Abhinandan Samiti organised a daylong 'anushthan’ on Sunday. Samiti convener and former minister Nitin Nabin said 51,000 diyas would be lighted up around Dak Bungalow Chowk on Monday. An hour-long ‘aatishbazi’ (fireworks) would also be part of the celebration.

The Gola Road Shiv temple would light up 1,100 diyas and organise group recital of Hanuman Chalisa, said ward councillor Rajesh Sharma. On Sunday, the temple distributed diyas among hundreds of local people for participating in the celebration, he added.

Decorated with saffron religious flags, lights and flowers, women devotees of the neighbouring colonies will hold kirtan at the Hanuman Mandir at Priyadrashi Nagar on Bailey Road, said its head priest Acharya Bhoop Narayan Pathak, adding that the main event at Ayodhya would also be telecast live outside the temple.

The Radha Krishna temple at Buddh Ghat on the bank of the Ganga was decked with lights for the ceremony, said its head priest Budhan Ojha. He said daylong recitation of the Ramcharitmanas and Ram Raksha Stotra, to be followed by lighting of 1008 diyas in the evening would mark the occasion.

Sri Krishna Pranami Temple, Patna City, will take out a religious procession of 1100 women devotees carrying ‘kalash’, to be followed by 108 other women devotees walking with copy of the Ramayan on their heads, said convener Sukhdev Pranami. In evening an impressive tableau of Lord Ram, goddess Sita, Lord Hanuman and others would be taken out, he added.