Ayodhya, Puri, Varanasi Temple-ate

The opening of the first phase of the ₹1,800 crore Ram Mandir in Ayodhya happens next week. According to UP CM Yogi Adityanath, this inauguration of the temple is meant to establish Ram Rajya in the country. The architectural statistics of the structure are certainly impressive.Ram temple to live a 1,000 years | A shikhar 16 storeys high supported on 392 sandstone pillars, each intricately hand cut, and rising above a granite plinth on modern concrete foundations. A Nagara style design on a 67 acre site, every detail of the building follows the precise norms of traditional construction. Its stone joinery of copper pins and tongue and groove joints is so secure and rust proof, the structure’s life is expected to be over a thousand years.City to be transformed too | But this, a partial opening of a most venerated temple, is only a prelude to the major overhaul of the holy city expected over the next decade. With more than 200 development projects already in progress, gone will be the days when a visit to the temple and the ghats is through dirt-encrusted narrow bazaar lanes on a tonga. A new 13km corridor, Ram Path, will soon clear out the messy bazaar area, removing over 800 structures in a meticulous urban surgery. Connectivity overhauled | Recently inaugurated by PM Modi, the all-new Ayodhya airport facade too has been specially designed for the sacred city, with a stone veneer topped by temple shikhars, if only to remind future air passengers that they are entering an ancient place with all modern conveniences: a new railway station with rapid rail connections to major cities, state of the art museums, hotels, transport services, and housing. Puri temple area brought up to 2024 | As if on cue, on Wednesday Jagannath Heritage Corridor in Puri was also inaugurated by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. Transformation of the iconic temple site with the addition of a 75-metre-wide surrounding approach, Srimandir Parikrama, is intended to free up the temple area of all unnecessary structures to improve facilities for visitors and pilgrims. These include queue management, toilet facilities, shade and rest pavilions, information and donation kiosks, shuttle services, souvenir shops and integrated security control centers. Varanasi corridor restored | Revitalisation of Ayodhya city comes after similar work successfully completed two years earlier in Varanasi. Kasi-Vishwanath corridor was a herculean effort to restore a fabled connection between the temple complex and Ganga, even when it meant acquiring over 300 properties, demolishing some and rehabilitating others. Along the route 40 temples hidden within the concrete undergrowth of the squalid old town were discovered and restored. Other than the Gyanvapi mosque controversy, the opening up a wide vista to the river edge was met with little resistance.Thus Ayodhya, Puri, Varanasi are three extensive religious projects that are more than mere buildings. They involve large-scale urban upheaval and a massive public expenditure. Three cities in service of Hinduism. Religion in public life | There are only two ways of treating religion in public life. One is to promote it, the way we do; the other is to suppress it, as in US. No federal funds or state support is provided in America for construction of churches, temples or synagogues. No teaching of religion is allowed in public school curriculum. Religious processions are not encouraged on public streets. Or the propagation of religious messages through public channels. Religion is a private matter. Constitution and inclusion | In India our Constitution clearly states that our secular country has no official religion. But in the birthplace of three important religions, and home to many more, any public acknowledgement of course makes sense only when all religions get equal billing. Obviously the overwhelming majority of Hindus numbering 80% of the population will get priority over 14% Muslims, 2.3% Christians, and barely 1% Buddhists. Even though the civic upgrade of the three cities is much needed, mere population representation should not be the criteria for religious architectural expansion. If anything, a more conciliatory and inclusive attitude needs to be encouraged. Ancient preserved | Jerusalem, Mecca, Vatican, Golden Temple, Bodh Gaya, so much of the history of these places relies on an implicit reading – stones and ruined walls left as they were, in a sort of suggestive syntax. A time so far back in history and archaeology, that no valuable physical resurrection can be easily made. Mythical modernised | Ironically, Ayodhya’s imagery, though mythical, has now been restored in an imagined 21st century framework, with all the modern gadgetry that today’s architecture deploys: a traditional temple surrounded by airports, fast trains, hotels and highways. Would a less magnified vision of the place be truer to the ancient narrative? Could we have gone the ‘less is more’ route, and produced something equally, if not more remarkable Hindu religious experience? Who knows. When ₹80,000 crore is to be spent over the next decade on Ayodhya, there has to be something to show for it.The writer is an architect