Why the Ayodhya Ram temple matters

The 22nd of January 2024 saw an extraordinary celebration of exuberant splendour as the Ram Mandir was inaugurated in Ayodhya. India’s stock market was shut for the day, government offices were only open for half a day as the country celebrated the consecration of Ram Lalla amidst much fanfare. The event was attended by 3,000 plus people including the top brass of the country’s leadership as well as celebrities from the film industry, music industry, the sporting world and pretty much all the important names in India’s little black book. The Pran Pratishtha was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ‘yajman’, in the presence of 4,000 sadhus, as Hindus all over the world celebrated the grand Ram Mandir estimated to have cost Rs1,800 crore, on a site believed to have been the birthplace of Lord Ram.

However, despite the joy and effervescence this event was celebrated, as always there were murmurs of disagreement and disapproval that bubbled. Very rarely has urban India been this divided on an event of such a festive nature, on ideological grounds. The temple was built on a controversial piece of land that is celebrated by Hindus for centuries as Ram’s birthplace. It is also where Mughal Emperor Babur’s commander Mir Baqi, ordered for the Babri Masjid to be built in 1528-29 (according to the mosque’s inscriptions), in the name of Babur. In 1992, this mosque was razed by Hindu nationalists, in what can be described as a campaign that led to violent results.

In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the land be handed over to a Hindu trust for a temple dedicated to Lord Ram to be built on what is believed, for thousands of years, by one of the oldest practising belief systems in the world, Hinduism to be the birthplace of their spiritual saviour Lord Ram. January 22nd was the event celebrating the completion of this building. Critics argue against the legal judgement delivered by the highest court of the land, there are louder than whispered assertions fearing communal disharmony, the rise of a right-wing state, threats to democracy amongst others. The shortest way to explain democracy is “rule by the people”, so a national celebration cannot be minimised and there is always to right to be heard and to criticise.

Sanatan dharma is an appellation that has become quite familiar to us in the past year or so. It is not about forcing a religion, as it is not a religion by itself, it is a way of life that is rooted in carrying out our dharma. It is a robust ideology that provides ritual assistance based on a deep understanding of astrology, the oldest science in the world and to help us in completing our karma. It is also the culture that dissected and suffused the metaphysical and mystical aspects of the nature of the soul and other dimensions while teaching us how to refine our minds to achieve transcendental states of existence.

Our universities which held such dynamic information and our temples were centres of such powerful energy revolution, were destroyed as a result of centuries of invasions (an obvious consequence of the long history of civilization) and the many rebirths of our land as so many cultures, confederations and dynastic societies. The celebration of ancient religion and culture, despite its many different chapters through history, need not be taken as an aggressive or minimising event towards any other culture, but simply as a commemoration of those who are walking on its path. Individuals that don’t understand are responsible for maybe spreading misinformation and also a fear of eradication for other cultures or communities which is detrimental and dangerous to our secular nation as a whole entity.

Some perspectives have expressed fear and anxiety over the inauguration of the Mandir, as a threat to minorities, but keeping agendas aside, socially, this was an important development for India. It has stimulated the revival of a lost culture and allowed us to reclaim ancestral, indigenous land from what was one of the hallmarks of the Mughal invasion and subsequently indicative of the biggest, most gruesome Hindu genocide in history.

A total of 25,000 temples were desecrated, nine billion books were burnt in Nalanda University, millions of people were massacred and others converted. It was a chapter in the history of mankind and our ancient country, not to be confused now with an attack on any other culture.

India today is still the ultimate example of a multicultural country. We may be a Hindu majority and we are definitely plagued with our issues and complications, but we always welcomed the Parsis when they fled Arab rule in Iran. We are one of the only countries where the Jews thrived and never faced persecution and we are home to more Muslim sects than any other Muslim country in the world. It is my personal belief that we live in harmony, and the common Indian does not have a communal bone in their body. Nothing can or should ever change this narrative, certainly not the building of a temple. In fact, locals from Ayodhya themselves have often pointed out the history of consonance between Hindus and Muslims even at places of worship.

As the evergreen Atal Bihar Vajpayee once said, “India was secular even when Muslims hadn’t come here and Christians hadn’t set foot on this soil. It is not as if India became secular after they came. They came with their own modes of worship, and they too were given a place of honour and respect.”

There is something about this land that accepts everyone and makes them their own. Let us all remember, respect and find pride in that for the present and times to come.

The author is a freelance journalist and features writer based out of Delhi. Her main areas of focus are politics, social issues, climate change and lifestyle-related topics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.

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