Why a new temple to Ram in Ayodhya matters so much to Indians
BY ONE COUNT there are almost 700,000 Hindu temples in India. Yet for many devotees it was the one that did not exist—a monument to mark the ostensible birthplace of Ram, a Hindu god—that mattered the most. On January 22nd their yearning will come to an end when Narendra Modi, the prime minister, consecrates the Ram mandir, a grand temple in the northern city of Ayodhya. Some 8,000 people will attend the ceremony, including scores of officials from Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and dignitaries from 55 countries. Why is the temple so important?
The answer starts with Ram. He is revered more than most gods in the Hindu pantheon, especially in northern India. He is said to have lived on Earth around 7,000 years ago. His stepmother conspired to have him exiled to a forest, where his wife was kidnapped by Ravana, a demon-king. Ram vanquished Ravana, won back his wife and returned home victorious. The period that followed, known as the Ram Rajya, is said to have been characterised by unprecedented prosperity. For all this, Ram is worshipped, and his birthplace has assumed holy status.
Historians have not established if Ram existed, let alone where he was born. But Hindus believe the location to be in Ayodhya. Long ago, they claim, there was a temple there to mark Ram janmabhoomi, or the earth where Ram was born. This building is said to have been destroyed in the 16th century by Babur, India’s first Mughal emperor. On its ruins he built a mosque, the Babri Masjid. The affront haunted Hindus and became a source of communal tension.
Under British rule, which followed the Mughal period, the tension was eased by compromise. Muslims could pray inside the mosque; Hindus worshipped on a platform outside. But in 1949, two years after independence, an idol of Ram appeared in the Babri Masjid. Many Hindus believed it was divine intervention (in reality activists snuck it in overnight). Local officials, fearful of a backlash if they removed it, found another compromise: locking up the mosque.
The issue simmered until the 1980s when the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu-nationalist organisation, launched a campaign to free Ram from his “Muslim jail” and for a temple to be built in place of the mosque. The movement attracted many supporters, including the BJP. The party’s association with the issue yielded instant political success: the BJP had won two seats in the 1984 elections; in 1989 the number jumped to 88. The fervour was fuelled by a hugely popular TV serialisation of the story of Ram. Aired at a time when TV ownership was soaring, it mesmerised the country and triggered an outpouring of devotion.
In the early 1990s things came to the boil. L.K. Advani, a senior BJP politician, began a journey in support of the temple’s construction in 1990. Riding on a chariot, he travelled thousands of miles through India towards the disputed site. Mr Modi, then a regional BJP secretary, helped to organise the leg that went through Gujarat, a western state. Thousands of people joined the procession. Emboldened by that success, the VHP organised another rally in 1992, with the explicit aim of building a temple. Thousands of security troops were mobilised, but they were no match for the mob that charged towards the mosque and razed it. The destruction triggered riots that killed at least 2,000 people across India.
The legal ramifications took years to meander through India’s courts. Throughout that process the BJP’s commitment to building the temple never wavered. It was a prominent feature of Mr Modi’s campaign in 2014. In 2019, soon after he was elected for his second term, the Supreme Court handed him a chance to act on his promise when it granted Hindus possession of the site (Muslims were offered land nearby for a new mosque).
For some Indians the temple’s opening will be seen as yet another lurch towards Hindutva, the chauvinistic Hindu nationalism that the BJP champions. But for many others it is a triumphant moment. Mr Modi, never known for his modesty, is taking full credit. Images of him at the consecration of the sacred sanctum will undoubtedly form the backdrop of his campaign for re-election this year. This politicisation has irked some devotees: several senior Hindu priests are boycotting the ceremony, accusing the prime minister of compromising rituals by giving them a “political angle”. The story of the temple may have started with Ram, but it is ending with Mr Modi. ■