For Mirzapur resident Jhingu, the climax of his life as a stone carving worker is about to unfold. The consecration of Ram Lalla in the Ayodhya temple will be the high point and virtual “mission complete” for this 53-year-old.
“It is a memorable occasion and a very emotional one. I feel privileged on being part of this holy task. When we started carving stones in 2001 we didn’t even know when, if at all, the temple would be built,” he recalled.
His sons Arjun and Gollu have also joined him in the carving work but fondly remembers many of his village seniors who worked for decades on the stones and returned to the village as they could not continue with laborious work. “We are luckier than them. We would at least see the culmination of our decade-long efforts,” said Jhingu, who is among the 150 active stone craftsmen currently present at the temple construction site.
He said senior workmen from Mirzapur included Shambhu, Mahesh and Ghurelal. They had come to Ayodhya in 1990. “Shambhu and Mahesh are no more while Ghurelal has returned due to age-related issues,” he said. It has been a long journey for the craftsman who started his innings at the construction workshop on a daily wage of Rs 115.
“Initially, our daily wage in 2001 was Rs 115. In 2011, we started getting Rs 7,500 a month. From 2022, we have started getting about Rs 600 daily that adds up to Rs 18,000 a month, along with food and lodging,” he said. Jhingu also recalled the 2002 occasion of “shilapujan” during which one piece of rock had to be given to as a token to a representative of the Central government.
“I and five other workers were hand-picked for shifting the identified rock piece to Hanuman Garhi for the ceremony. We loaded the rock on a trolley and took it for the event during high tension as many karsevaks had arrived in Ayodhya,” he said. Like Jhingu, Annu Bhai Sompura, the man who crafted the first stone for the temple in 1990, would also be present at the consecration ceremony.
Sompura was 45 years old when he started carving the first stone with hand tools as there were no machines available for carving. A VHP spokesman said it was in March last year that the first discussion on “Pran Pratishtha” at the temple was initiated.
I took eight months and 16 meetings to arrive at the 22 January 2024 date for the auspicious ceremony. The decision was taken in October 2023. The date was narrowed down during meetings between representatives of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, VHP and the RSS.
During the discussions, the schedule of the programme leading up to the consecration was finalized along with the welcome ceremony, prayer schedule and arrangement for lodging saints. VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma told The Sunday Guardian that the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti is responsible for inviting saints from all the mutts and temples. The decision to invite every household to visit Ayodhya and gift them sacred rice from the temple was also taken at one of these meetings, he said.
The idea of giving devotees something came up after one of the participants said that till date the Trust had only sought support and help from people and never given anything back to them. This sowed the seed for the process of giving devotees the invitation to the “Pran Prathishta” event. Construction activities at the temple had picked up after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation on 5 August 2020.