Earlier in the month, BJP Parliamentary Board member BS Yediyurappa had said that the idol by the sculptor from Mysuru will be selected for installation at the temple.
A Karnataka sculptor’s idol is going to be consecrated at Ram temple on January 22.
The temple trust selected Arun Yogiraj among three sculptors to sculpt the Ram Lalla idol.
The Ram Lalla Idol
Yogiraj utilized a 51-inch-long Krishna Shila stone from HD Kote in Mysuru district to carve out the idol. ”The murti sculpted on Krishna Shila, by renowned sculptor Shri Arun Yogiraj, has been selected as Shri Vigraha of Bhagwan Shri Ramlalla Sarkar,” the Temple Trust said in a post on X.
He is a young, polite and cheerful young man. He also built the statues of Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Delhi’s India Gate,” Rai said.
“He was very focused on his work. He didn’t speak to his family and children for 15 days as he worked tirelessly,” he added. The renowned sculptor comes from a family which has been carving idols for generations.The new idol whose consecration ceremony will be done is made of stone and weighs “somewhere between 150-200 kgs”, Mr Rai told reporters in Ayodhya.
The idol depicts the deity as a five-year-old boy in a standing posture.The sanctum sanctorum of the new temple will also house the idol of Ram Lalla that is now in use and has been for more than 70 years.
Yogiraj’s other sculptures
In addition, Yogiraj created the sculptures of Adi Shankaracharya, which are located in Kedarnath, and Subhas Chandra Bose, a freedom warrior, which are placed next to India Gate in New Delhi.
Ram Temple Consercation
The Ram temple is being inaugurated on January 22. Many celebrities and politicians are attending this renowned event. The temple will be inaugurated by Narendra Modi.
Over 7,000 people have been invited to the grand ceremony.
Congress leaders might not attend the event
Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi, and Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony on 22 January, and in a statement, they called the event a “RSS/BJP event”. “Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain,” the party had said in a statement, adding that it “respectfully” declines the invite.
Nevertheless, a number of Congress officials, including ministers of state, immediately announced that they would be commemorating and/or taking part in the occasion. On January 15, a sizable delegation was taken to Ayodhya by UP Congress President Ajay Rai.