Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik watched the live telecast of ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya, at his residence in Odisha capital on Monday.
“Witnessed the auspicious Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha being held at Ayodhya. Delighted to see the nation coming together with religious fervour for the Pran Pratistha,” the CM wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the 161-feet tall pink sandstone shrine during the hour-long ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and other dignitaries.
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The new 51-inch idol of a five-year-old Lord Ram standing gracefully on a lotus has been meticulously carved from a single block of stone by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj. The idol entered the premises on January 17 and was placed in the sanctum sanctorum on January 18.
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Army helicopters showered flower petals on the temple premises as PM Modi performed the ‘aarti’ of the new Ram Lalla idol, , adorned in gold jewellery, and prostrated before it. He then broke his 11-day-long fast.
After the ceremony, PM Modi was seen greeting the guests. Around 7,000 VVIPs from across the nation, including actors, sportspersons, industrialists, and politicians, attended the grand event.
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Beating the Ayodhya consecration by five days,, Naveen had unveiled the Shree Mandir Parikrama Prakalpa (SMPP), a massive peripheral development project around the 12th century Jagannath Temple in Puri on January 17. The Rs 800 crore project was launched five years ago, and promoted with much fanfare, with an eye on the upcoming elections in the state. Religious heads of 90 temples from across the nation and representatives from the Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal were among the many who attended the ceremony, following the culmination of a three-day “maha yajna”.
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