From sacred soil to gold bricks: Contributions made for Ram Mandir

Pious soil and water from all major religious sites, places of national importance and sacred rivers on the nation reached Ayodhya for the construction of the temple at Ram Janmabhoomi on July 31, the official account of the temple trust Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra tweeted on August 1.

The foundation-laying ceremony will have water and soil from Badrinath Temple, Uttarakhand, Raigad Fort, Mahad, Ranganathswami Mandir, Tiruchirappalli, and Mahakaleshwar Mandir, Ujjain.

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Additionally, it will also have earthly elements from places of national importance such as soil and water from the important places of life of freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azad and Birsa Munda.

In a statement, the trust said, “Sacred soil from more than 2,000 teerth sthan and water from more than 100 rivers has been brought to Ayodhya for Bhoomi Pujan. Pujya Shankaracharya and Sants have sent many auspicious materials for Bhoomi Pujan.”

Devotees of the deity have started arriving in Ayodhya and have been handing over soil that will be collectively used to plaster the ground of the site of the puja.

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A devotee from Amethi, told The Economic Times that he collected soil from 500 small and big temples across his town.

Another devotee, Mohammad Faiz Khan travelled 800 km from Chhattisgarh and brought soil from the alleged birthplace of Ram’s mother Kaushalya.

Closer home, the Karnataka unit of Vishwa Prasad Parishad told news agencies, “Suttur mutt seer Shivaratri Deshikendra sent water from Cauvery and Kapila. Dharmasthala Manjunatha Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade sent water from Netravati river while Sringeri Shankaracharya Sri Bharati Tirtha collected water from Tunga, Bhadravati and Sharavati.”

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The soil has been sent from temples of Chamundeshwari in Mysuru, Sri Krishna in Udupi, Manjunatheshwara in Dharmasthala, Rambhapuri in Balehonnur in Chikkamagaluru district, Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru and Datta Peetha.

Two brothers, Radhey Shyam Pander and Shabd Vaigyanik Mahakavi Triphala have collected water from 151 rivers, three seas and soil from 16 places in Sri Lanka and have brought to Ayodhya to be used as part of the puja, ANI reported

Apart from earthly donations, the trust will also accept monetary donations regardless of faith, it said. Spiritual guru Morari Bapu on Monday announced a donation of Rs five crore from his Vyaspeeth, according to a report by New Indian Express.

A self-proclaimed descendant of Mughals, Prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy, has announced that he will donate a gold brick to the PM for the construction of the temple.

On July 21, the UP unit of Indian Bullions Association donated 33 kg of silver bricks to be used as part of the Bhoomi Pujan.

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ANI reported that sadhus from Tamil Nadu brought two bricks of gold and silver, with ‘Shri Ram’ etched in Tamil on them. The Ahmedabad Jain community-contributed 24 kg of silver bricks for the construction of the temple.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath donated Rs 11 lakh to the trust while the Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya donated Rs 6.6 lakh.

Shiv Sena has contributed Rs one crore for the construction of the temple, Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai on Sunday told ANI.