Diamonds, Rubies: All You Need To Know About Ram Lalla Idol's Ornaments

New Delhi:

The idol of Ram Lalla inside the grand temple Ayodhya was consecrated yesterday with a ceremony attended by over 7,000 guests and witnessed by millions across the country. The Ram Lalla idol is 51-inches tall and is made using special black granite by Mysore-based Arun Sculptor.

Devotees of Lord Ram saw the first look of the idol adorned with gold and diamond ornaments that were selected after “extensive research” by the temple trust. The ornaments have been crafted by Lucknow-based Harsahaimal Shiamal Jewellers. The idol of infant Ram, which will now be called as ‘Balak Ram’ is adorned in Banarasi fabric, featuring a yellow dhoti and a red patka or angavastram, a rectangular piece of fabric worn with a dhoti and kurta.

The patka is embellished in pure gold ‘zari’, a form of gold embroidery, featuring auspicious Vaishnav symbols – ‘Shankh’ (Shell), ‘padma’ (lotus), ‘chakra’ (wheel or disk and is associated with Lord Vishnu) and ‘mayur’ (peacock).

The temple trust said the ornaments have been prepared studying texts such as the  Adhyatma Ramayana, Valmiki Ramayana, Ramcharitmanas and the Alavandar Stotram.

These garments were created by Delhi-based textile designer Manish Tripathi, who worked from Ayodhya Dham for the project, PTI reported quoting the temple trust.

The 22-carat gold crown or mukut of the idol is studded with 75 carat diamonds, 262 carats rubies and 135 carats of Zambian emeralds. The sun on the crown’s center symbolizes the Suryavanshi logo, denoting Lord Ram’s lineage.The idol’s neck is graced by a necklace studded with gems, it is crafted from gold and inlaid with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

The tilak, also in yellow gold, has 3-carat natural diamond and is surrounded with smaller diamonds. Natural Burmese rubies have been used to cover the Ajana Chakra, signifying intuition, between the eyebrows, TOI reported.

The stone used to create the 51-inch idol is special black granite brought all the way from Karnataka.

“The stone is 2.5 billion years old,” confirms HS Venkatesh, Director of the National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM), Bengaluru, the national facility that helped in testing the stone using physico-mechanical analysis. The NIRM is the nodal agency to test rocks for Indian dams and nuclear power plants.

Dr Venkatesh says, “The rock is highly durable and resistant to climatic variation and will sustain thousands of years in this subtropical zone with minimum maintenance.”

The Ram Temple has been constructed using traditional architectural designs and highest quality stones, yet it incorporates modern science and engineering techniques to make it durable, says Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh. “It has been designed to last for more than 1,000 years,” he adds.

The stone was chosen from the village Jayapura Hobli in Mysuru district, a region known for high quality granite mines.

The rock is dated to the pre-Cambrian era, which is estimated to have begun some four billion plus years ago