Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir is set to witness a rare celestial event to mark Ram Navami on April 17. Devotees visiting the temple would get a chance to be witness to a rare annual event, in which the sunlight would be allowed to fall in a way that it cascades a ‘divine’ tilak on the forehead of the new Ram Lalla idol. While calling it ‘Surya Tilak’ and an amalgamation of science, engineering and spirituality, the officials of the temple trust and scientists who have designed the mechanism said that the event would occur through a set of sophisticated mechanism of lenses and mirrors designed to take place only on the occasion of Ram Navami, the day celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ram.
“On Ram Navami, which falls on the ninth day of the Chaitra month, the entire lens mechanism is designed to guide the sunlight into the sanctum-sanctorum of the Ram temple, on to the forehead of the statue of Lord Ram. It will start around noon on Ram Navami and will continue for four minutes,” said R Dharamraju, chief scientist at CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), the body that designed the Surya Tilak Mechanism, in a statement.
Dharamraju, while explaining the mechanism, said that for the purpose, an apparatus that functions on the principle of tracking the sun’s path has been developed, in which, lenses and reflective mirrors are arranged in a way to direct sunlight from the third floor to the Garbha Griha, on the forehead of the idol of Lord Ram.
Champat Rai, general secretary of the Ram Temple trust said, “Bhagwan Ram was Suryavanshi and, hence, we thought that there is nothing better to greet him on his birthday with a Surya Tilak and this mechanism was designed. Through this mechanism, the sun rays would be guided to fall on the forehead of Lord Ram, resulting in the formation of oval shaped tilak. This is a perfect example of careful engineering and application of optical science, which also symbolizes the divine connection between the heavens and the earth.”
Rai said that the entire mechanism was designed by a team of technicians and scientists from CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Optica, Bangalore and others.
Officials with the temple’s trust said that the scientists have assured 100 percent Surya Tilak formation on the forehead of the idol of Lord Ram. Officials said that since Ram Navami is calculated as per lunar calendar, special arrangements of 19 gears had to be put in place to make sure that the auspicious anointment takes place as per the set schedule and time. Interestingly, no battery and iron is used in making the entire mechanism.
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