Preparations are in full swing for the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya to be held on January 22. Invites are being sent to several high-profile dignitaries from in and around the country.
A host of sportspersons have also been extended the invitation to attend the ceremony which reportedly is expected to draw over 7,000 people.
Though the ceremony will be held next Monday, the Vedic rituals will get underway from January 16.
Sachin Tendulkar, World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, little master’ Sunil Gavaskar as well as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag and Indian cricket coach Rahul Dravid are on the list too. From the current Indian cricket team, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma have been invited. Karnam Malleswari, footballer Kalyan Chaube, long-distance runner Kavita Raut Tungar and paralympic javelin thrower Devendra Jhanjadia have received an invitation as have women cricket captain Mitali Raj, shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu and her trainer Pullela Gopichand. Chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, sprint queen PT Usha and footballer Bhaichung Bhutia are also invited.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will himself be present for the ceremony having laid the foundation stone for the Ram Mandir back in 2020.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Friday began a special 11-day religious exercise preceding the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple and he spoke about experiencing feelings like never before in his life.
“I am emotional. I am overwhelmed with emotions. For the first time in life, I am experiencing such feelings,” he had said.
The Ram temple trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country and 50 guests from foreign countries.
All the guests coming to the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22 will be given ‘Ramraj’, the soil extracted during the temple’s foundation laying, as a gift’.
Invitees who will not be able to attend the ceremony due to some reason will be given the Ramraj whenever they visit the temple in Ayodhya, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust said.
Meanwhile, Ayodhya Divisional Commissioner Gaurav Dayal said arrangements have been made to seat 7,500 people in the temple premises for the ceremony.
Special guests coming to Ayodhya will be given a code and their seating arrangements will be made based on this code, he said.
Dayal also said the priest of Varanasi will conduct the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ programme. He will be accompanied by four trustees and four priests.
With PTI Inputs
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