2024 - Ayodhya Ram Mandir | Mint Souvenir Token

A coloured souvenir token was issued on 'Ayodhya Ram Mandir' featuring Shri Ram Lala from Kolkata Mint.

The Ram Mandir, situated in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, is a Hindu temple revered by many followers who believe it stands at the historical birthplace of Rama, a principal deity in Hinduism and an incarnation of Vishnu.

In 1528, under the command of Mir Baqi, a Mughal Empire commander, the Babri Masjid mosque was constructed on the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, Rama's birthplace, following the orders of Babur. The earliest recorded mention of the mosque dates back to 1767 in the Latin book "Descriptio Indiae" by the Jesuit missionary Joseph Tiefenthaler. According to Tiefenthaler, the mosque was built by demolishing the Ramkot temple, believed to be Rama's fortress, and the Bedi, the presumed birthplace of Rama. The first instance of religious violence occurred in 1853, and by December 1858, the British administration prohibited Hindu rituals at the contested site, creating a platform outside the mosque for religious activities.

In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favor of Hindus, granting them the disputed land for the construction of a temple, while Muslims were allocated land in Dhannipur to build a mosque. The court cited a report from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) indicating the presence of a non-Islamic structure beneath the demolished Babri Masjid.

Construction of the temple officially commenced with a Bhumi-Pujan on August 5, 2020. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, participated in the three-day Vedic ritual, culminating in the installation of a 40 kg (88 pounds) silver brick as the foundation stone. On August 4, the Ramarchan Puja was performed to ritually invite major deities into the temple.

Prime Minister Modi, after an 11-day fast consuming only coconut water and fruit, performed the Prana Pratishtha ceremony on January 22, 2024, from 12:15 PM to 12:45 PM IST. This consecration ceremony was organized by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

Funding for the Ram Mandir's construction was achieved through extensive fundraising drives, with nearly two million volunteers involved. The first contribution came from then-President Shri Ramnath Kovind, who donated ₹500,000 on January 14, 2021. In total, the temple trust received approximately ₹50 billion in donations.

The murti (idol) of Shri Ram Lala represents Shri Rama in the form of a small child. Three Indian sculptors, namely, Ganesh Bhatt, Satyanarayan Pandey, and Arun Yogiraj, were assigned the task of making the idol of the deity by the trust. As per the trust, the characteristics of the deity were supposed to be a 5-year-old Bālaka (i.e. child) with Mandasmita Vadana (i.e. a cheerful face) possessing both Divya (i.e. divine) and Rājakumāra (i.e. princely) looks. The murti sculpted by Yogiraj was chosen as the presiding deity. The other two are mooted to be placed within the temple as minor deities. Yogiraj used a three billion-year-old stone that was found at Gujjegowdanapura village in Mysore, Karnataka. He sculpted the idol of the deity based on the guidelines of the Shilpa Shastras. In the idol, the deity of Balak Ram is in the Sthānaka Bhangima (i.e. standing pose) on Viśvapadmāsana (i.e. a double row lotus seat).

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