Ayodhya | Building a city around a temple Premium

With a master plan for 2031, and 250 projects worth over ₹80,000 crore simultaneously being executed by 34 executive agencies, Ayodhya, the site of the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh, is evolving into Hindutva’s new capital

It’s the twilight hour. The noise of earth movers and stone-cutting machines melds with the devotional songs being played at every second house and shop in Ayodhya, a two-hour drive from Uttar Pradesh’s capital, Lucknow. At 6 p.m., the small makeshift temple within bulletproof glass, dedicated to Ram Lalla (the child Ram), which currently sits at the Ram janmabhoomi (birthplace), is closed. Devotees move to the other side of the city, towards the ghats of the Sarayu river. Here, an aarti (worship) of the river is performed, followed by a sound and light show of the Ramayana, the story of Ram from his birth to his return to Ayodhya.

This shift in the tide of tourists gives workers the time and space to complete the construction of roads — Bhakti path, Ram path, and Janambhoomi path — leading to several religious monuments within a 5-kilometre radius in Ayodhya. The Janmabhoomi path culminates in the 360-foot tall, 235-ft wide Ram temple, its stone being polished on a war footing, for the inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22.

The dust from construction hangs heavy in the air, over the area Hindus believe is the birthplace of Ram, considered the seventh incarnation of Vishnu. Spread across 2.7 acres, the temple that will occupy 30% of this space, with the rest left for green cover, is, for many, a big victory for the Hindus. For several others, the demolition by Hindutva groups of the 16th-century Babri Masjid, which stood at the site, is a black mark on India’s secular constitutional commitment.

In November 2019, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court permitted the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya at the disputed site. Soon after the judgment, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), an outfit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which was at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that began in the early 1980s, began seeking donations for the construction of the temple. About 20 lakh volunteers reached out to 12.7 crore Hindu families across India, collecting ₹3,500 crore in donations.

In Ayodhya, workers are busy plastering the facades of the houses and shops partially demolished to widen the roads, in some cases, against the wishes of the owners. The buildings are being uniformly painted cream and saffron, with a white temple spire drawn on each. The shutters of the shops around the temple are dark brown colour with Hindu-themed artwork: the swastika, saffron flag, bow and arrow, conch, mace, or just Shri Ram in Devanagari script.

Saishwari Gaonkar, 26, from Goa is visiting Ayodhya with her family. They gather near the I-love-Ayodhya selfie point to click pictures. Gaonkar is happy with her trip but complains that the line to deposit phones and other belongings in the locker outside is way too long. “Many people even missed their trains and buses as it took them hours to collect their stuff. The authorities must do something about it,” she says, adding that cleanliness is another miss in the city.

Kavita Naik, her mother-in-law, interrupts her to add that this was just the beginning of a ‘New Ayodhya’. “Things will only get better,” she feels. Her daughter-in-law nods.