Ram Mandir Bhoomi pujan; Rituals commence with Gauri Ganesh puja

AYODHYA: Count down for the Bhoomi pujan of the grand Ram temple to be held on August 5 and to be done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have commenced with start of religious rituals here on Monday morning.
Amid the coronavirus threat and security apprehension, the entire Ayodhya has turned into a fortress.
A total of 21 priests from Varanasi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj started the ritual of Bhoomi pujan by organising Gauri Ganesh Puja this morning at the Bhoomi pujan site in the Ramjanambhoomi premises.
However except for the priests and some Shree Ramjanambhoomi Tirath Khetra Trust members none were allowed to attend this puja due to the corona pandemic and threat from the terror angle .
On the other hand, Pandit Kalikram has handed over four sets of dresses for Ram Lalla along with religious flag to the head priest of the Ram Lalla temple Acharya Satendra Das here this morning before the Bhoomi pujan ritual commenced.
According to the tradition, Ram Lalla will wear white dress today, red tomorrow and Navratna clad green dress on Wednesday, the day of Bhoomi pujan. Besides Ram Lalla deity will wear yellow dress on Thursday.
All these dresses were given by Pandit Kalikaram and each set also have dresses of Bharat, Laxman, Shatrughan, Hanuman along with back side curtain and bed sheets. Along with these dresses set, seven religious and victory flags were also presented.
Pandit Kalikaram is presenting the dresses for the idols for the last two years. He will also light desi ghee diyas (lamps) at almost all the temples of Ayodhya in the evening of August 5.
Meanwhile Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be reaching here this afternoon and will go for review of the arrangements for August 5 function.
During his over 4 hrs stay, the CM will meet the state officials, security personnel and members of the Trust and some senior seers.
On the other hand, invitation letters have been started distribution among the people in Ayodhya and Muslim plaintiff Iqbal Anasri was among the first to get the invitation.
The Trust has now curtailed the invitation just of 170 people.
Among the invitees are UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

(AGENCIES)