Ram Navmi celebration: Ram Lalla adorned with 'Surya Tilak' as a mark of honour

The 'Surya tilak' of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya was done at noon on Wednesday on the occasion of Ram Navami using an elaborate mechanism involving mirrors and lenses by which sunbeams were directed on the forehead of the Ram idol.

This is the first Ram Navami since the consecration of the Ram idol at the new temple, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22.

Prakash Gupta the spokesperson of the temple told PTI, ''The Surya Tilak was done for around 4-5 minutes when the sun rays were directly focused on the forehead of the Ram Lalla idol.'' ''The temple administration prevented the devotees from entering the sanctum sanctorum at the time of the Surya Tilak to avoid overcrowding,'' Gupta said. Dr DP Kanungo, the Chief Scientist at CSIR-CBRI, Roorkee, told PTI, ''As planned, the Surya Tilak of Ram Lalla was perfectly executed at 12:00 pm'' The system was tested by the scientists on Tuesday.

Dr S K Panigrahi, a scientist at CSIR-CBRI Roorkee, who was also associated with the project said that the basic objective of the Surya Tilak project is to focus on the 'tilak' on the forehead of Shri Ram idol on every Shri Ram Navami day. Under the project, sunlight will be brought on the forehead of Lord Ram at noon on Shri Ram Navami in the Chaitra month every year.

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