Ayodhya: Gopuram To Be Built At Ram Mandir, First Phase Of Temple Construction Likely To Be Completed By 2023 End

In a bid to make Ram Mandir a symbol of pan-India unity and inclusivity, the construction of a gopuram is being planned at the temple.

A gopuram is a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the South Indian architecture.

Nripendra Mishra, who heads the construction committee of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, has said that a key message from some people guiding him was to ensure that all communities felt the temple belonged to them.

Mishra, a retired bureaucrat, said he was advised to construct a gopuram so that devotees from South India feel at home.

"There was advice to make a gopuram of South Indian style. I have been told that unless the South Indian devotee sees a gopuram when they enter the temple, they will never adopt it fully," Mishra said in an interview with The Indian Express.

"We are in the process of negotiating land here. There is a commitment to build a gopuram," he added.

Called the ‘rishi muni’ complex, the seven temples will be for Valmiki, Vashishtha, Vishwamitra, Agastya, Shabari, Jatayu and Nishad, The Indian Express reported.

Mishra said that the the temple is being built in three phases and the first phase of the construction will be over by December 2023, when ground floor will be complete but not the iconography.

The second phase - second and third floor - will be completed by December 2024.

The third and final phase will be completed with the construction of entire complex of 71 acres in 2025.

Mishra emphasised his urgent pursuit of a deadline in December 2023 to ensure the completion of the first phase of the temple by January 2024, which will be commemorated by relocating the Ram Lalla from the makeshift temple to the sanctum sanctorum of the new temple.

"The time schedule that is really, really, really, chasing me is December 2023. I don’t want to fail the nation. I do want the Lord installed here," Mishra said.