2093rd BLOG POST
1st Book
of 2024
I remember reading
about Ram Mandir in 2011 descriptively in the newspapers when one of the
prominent hearings in the court was going on. That was the first time when I
understood the prominence and controversy around Ram Mandir and why it has
become so important for certain section of our society – surprisingly the
section which counts as majority in our nation. 4 years back, I turned into a
Vishnu devotee. At this point of time while I was reading about Lord Vishnu and
his avatars and the most famous one – Lord Ram, I realized the importance of
Ram Mandir which was due to be built at his birthplace. Luckily, the Bhoomi
Pujan happened just after.
Since then, I
wanted to know all about its history etc. which I got a great opportunity to finally
learn when Swadesh Singh released his latest book this January named “Ayodhya
Ram Mandir”. I must applaud Rupa Publication as well for publishing this book
as it might have turned into a controversy and despite howsoever secular our
nation is, whenever it comes to such sensitive topic, it is objected by certain
section of audience whatsoever might be the case. Anyway, talking about the
book, it helps us understand the whole history of the establishment of Ram
Mandir and its multiple destruction by different rulers of India. It helps us get
into the past and know about the psychology of people towards this temple and
why it is so prominent even after centuries for the Indian civilization.
The 1st
chapter discusses the significance of the land of Ayodhya. Author delves into
explaining us about the Ikshvaku dynasty and all its respective kings. It tells
how Ayodhya has always been a major part in the history of India. Along with
it, author discusses about the different set of rules under which temple and
its existence suffered right from Mauryan, Gupta, Mughals and finally,
Britishers. The 2nd chapter finally brings us to the modern India
where the first case gets filed in the Indian judiciary in the year 1822 and
how it kept on struggling in court until 2019. I was surprised to learn how
intellectually and smartly Supreme Court rejected the judgment of High court
which gave three different parties equal land at the birthplace. It is also a
proud moment to learn how Indians accepted the Supreme Court judgment and there
was no major case of any violence across India.
In the latter part
of the book, author moves towards the current scenario where the construction
of Ram temple has begun in Ayodhya and is ready to be open for its devotees to
worship Lord Ram in his childhood avatar proudly standing at its rightful location
– Lord Ram’s birthplace. Author gets into details and gives an overview on the
design, architecture and the whole insight on how the whole temple and the premises
will look like. The way author has written the whole part actually makes you visualize
the whole temple in front of your eyes. It will make you impatient as the construction
of whole temple premises will take some more years for us to view what it is
actually planned and aspired to be.
Swadesh also
discusses how the development of modern Ayodhya is being planned along with the
temple because it becomes very necessary for the whole locality to have
different tourist spots for the devotees to enjoy as people come from faraway
places and expect every lane to give an essence of Lord Ram’s presence. I am
glad the way author narrated about all the existing attractions around Ayodhya
such as Sarayu River, Hanumangarhi, Kanak Bhawan, Shri Nageshwarnath temple,
Sita ki rasoi etc. Along with this, author also talks about how these
attractions shall be further beautified after the temple gets opened for its
devotees.
Along with the importance
of Ayodhya for Sanatan Dharm, Swadesh speaks about how it is also equally worshipped
by other religions such as Jains and Buddhists as well. I wasn’t aware about Ayodhya’s
relevance as a spiritual fabric of the nation for multiple religions which the
book made me decipher in very easy language. Swadesh has divided the chapters in
a manner where each of them talks about a topic specifically which makes the
interest alive for the readers and keep them focused towards the subject.
His research and
efforts are visible in every sentence as author has deep dived into the
subject. He could have made this book difficult for all of us by getting into
the legal aspects in the language of our Indian law but he keeps it simple for
all the audience to understand and learn from an overview aspect as to how the
whole phenomena around Ram temple kept disturbing the emotions of the people
aspiring to pray their Lord on his birthplace itself. Also, the book is of
around 160 pages hence it becomes easy to go through it in few sittings itself.
Overall, this book
is an excellent read specially at this point of time when Ram Temple is already
open for all of us. It is going to be a very different experience while
visiting Ayodhya after reading this book hence I would recommend everyone to read
this one before planning an Ayodhya visit. It will also help you understand
when is the best time to be there on the spiritual land based on the
development that has been planned by Government along with its timelines. I
rate this book 4.5* out of 5.
Thanks!
WRITING BUDDHA
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