More rocks to be brought to Ayodhya for Ram statue

AYODHYA:  More rocks are likely to be brought in to carve the idol of Lord Ram for the under-construction temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

Champat Rai, secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, said, "We will conduct a technical study of the rocks to check if these have not suffered any damages, discolouration or dents during the transportation. If so, these rocks will be of no use to the sculptors. We are soon bringing three more similar rocks for the purpose."

The Ram Mandir Trust said they will bring three more similar rocks from different places for the purpose.

Rai said, "Sending shaligram shilas to Ayodhya was the decision of the seers of Nepal. These rocks have not been taken inside the premises of Ram Janmabhoomi and have been placed at Ram Sewak Puram, a site that belongs to Vishwa Hindu Parishad."

Earlier, Trust members had said that a delegation of VHP's office-bearers, led by its national secretary Rajendra Singh Pankaj, had accompanied the shilas that left Mustang district of Nepal on January 25 and reached Ayodhya, late on February 2, covering a distance of more than 350 kilometres in six days.

The idol of Ram's baal-roop (child form), which was supposed to be carved out of these stones, was to be placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Mandir expected to be ready by Makar Sankranti in January next year.