Yogendra Guru seemed lost in a tangle of traffic on a bitterly chilly morning after touring the closely guarded temporary temple where Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.
In the northern Indian city of Ayodhya, frenzied construction work created the backdrop: a huge center to greet pilgrims, arched sandstone gates, and a wide hallway leading to a magnificent new $217 million (£170 million) temple dedicated to the Hindu deity. Large sections of the city have been demolished as part of a multibillion dollar renovation project to create what some Hindu nationalist leaders are referring to as a “Hindu Vatican”.
Along with twenty family members, Mr. Guru underwent an arduous fourteen-hour bus ride from their hamlet in the Morena area of central Madhya Pradesh state to Ayodhya.
“I am overjoyed that we will soon have a new temple. The Hindus appear to have woken up and are feeling liberated. I think we were oppressed in the past,” he said to me.
The temple will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, fulfilling a decades-long promise made by Hindu nationalists. It is located on one of India’s most contentious religious sites, where a 16th-century mosque once stood. When Hindu rioters destroyed the Babri mosque in 1992, they claimed it was constructed by Muslim invaders on the site of a Ram temple. This led to widespread riots that claimed almost 2,000 lives.
2019 saw the conclusion of the contentious ownership battle between Hindus and Muslims when the Supreme Court awarded Hindus ownership of the site, even though it made it clear that demolishing the mosque was a “egregious violation of the rule of law”. (The court granted Muslims an additional piece of Ayodhya property so they could build a mosque.)
Months ahead of the general elections, Mr. Modi dedicates the Ayodhya temple, as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aims for a record-breaking third straight term. “Unify the nation” is how he describes the new temple. According to Rajnath Singh, a senior minister, the shrine will signal “the beginning of India’s cultural revival and restore national pride”.
Opponents claim that the opening’s timing was chosen more for political than religious reasons, fostering Hindu nationalism before of the polls. After all, they contend, the BJP’s rise to prominence in Indian politics was largely fueled by the drive to erect a temple.
“Lord Ram has finally found his proper home after living in a tent for a long time. The 86-year-old head priest of the improvised shrine, where a smaller idol of Ram had been kept for the previous thirty years, Satyendra Das remarked, “It’s been a test of patience for all of us.”
The new temple is the biggest thing around. Stretching across 7.2 acres in a 70-acre complex, the massive three-storey structure, coated in pink sandstone and underpinned by black granite, boasts towering pillars and sits upon 70,000 sq ft (6,503 sq m) of pure white marble. There will be a 51-inch (4.25-foot) Ram idol set atop a marble pedestal. When everything is finished—Mr. Modi will only open the ground floor on January 22—the temple anticipates seeing a whopping 150,000 visitors daily by the end of the year, which is seven times the current average.
Ayodhya is a peaceful pilgrim town on the banks of Saryu, a Ganges tributary, and Mr. Modi’s government is working nonstop to turn it into a “world class city where people come as pilgrims and tourists” in order to do all of this.
Among the $3.85 billion (£3.01 billion) renovations are enlarged roadways, a brand-new airport, a sizable train station, and a multi-story parking structure. The temple is now accessible by the newly named 13km (8 miles) Ram Path, which was made possible by the demolition of almost 3,000 houses, businesses, and “structures of religious nature” in whole or in part. Now the buildings are painted a lighter yellow, giving them a monotonous appearance. Up to 50 new hotels and homestays are planned, while other run-down guesthouses are getting renovations. Hotel giants like Radisson and Taj are developing new properties. The triple increase in land prices is not surprising.
“The place has altered so drastically that it is no longer recognizable. The fact that everything has happened is actually a little shocking and astounding,” noted Valay Singh, the author of Ayodhya: City of Faith, City of Discord, who has been visiting the city since 2016.
Around the new temple, there are plans for more attractions such as a heritage walk with 162 murals that depict Ram’s life, a facility on an island in the Saryu River that offers “insights into the Vedic civilisation”, and the development of the area as a centre for naturopathy and as a wedding city. “We want to create the most beautiful city in the world,” says Gaurav Dayal, the senior-most official of Ayodhya.
amid Ayodhya, where monks wander the streets and temples loom like sentinels amid an unkempt skyline, faith permeates every aspect of daily life. The city is circled by tens of thousands of pilgrims at least twice a year. Monkeys, who are everywhere, nevertheless have free reign. Religious trinkets such as flowers, sandalwood, devotional texts, and figurines of deities are sold by hawkers in bustling bazaars. “Fragile, pilgrim-dependent economy” is how Mr. Singh characterizes it. Disha Chakraborty, a biological sciences student from Shillong in northeastern India, told me during her first visit to the city: “Let’s be honest, this place is dilapidated.” But since people are so loyal, it makes no difference. A great number of people have placed their confidence in an idol.
Nonetheless, a change is taking place in this city of several thousand temples, both big and tiny, forty-five or so mosques, festivals, and fairs, fusing the old and the new. Along with tattoo parlors and takeout, Ayodhya is home to the restaurant Dark Cloud and the salon Stylish Chand Men’s Parlour, which offers a range of style cuts. After dark, laser beams illuminate the night sky. Competing Instagram Reel creators and YouTubers flood the area, hoping to make it “trend” worthy.
After the new temple opens, millions of devotees and tourists are now anticipated to flock to Ayodhya, driven by faith, tradition, and curiosity. Nevertheless, there are murmurs of unhappiness even in its calm. The city is sliced open by the pilgrim road-widening project, with a path of destroyed homes and businesses from bulldozers. Approximately 1,600 of the shopkeepers in the area, according to Anand Kumar Gupta, the head of their association, have “been displaced and have nowhere to go”. He went on to say that they received an average of 100,000 rupees ($1,200) in payment for repairs. “This rebuilding has disturbed us,” he stated.
Approximately thirty residences belonging to workers in the city’s temples are largely destroyed on a pilgrimage path that is currently being expanded. Leaky pipes have caused the sewage to pour into the roadway. The earth outside the doors is scarred by muddy trenches that are crossed precariously by wobbly bamboo bridges. Plots have been provided to the owners of the totally demolished residences at a distance.
According to Vishal Pandey, the six-room ancestral home had been partially destroyed to make place for the expanded road. He continued, saying that even though the impacted area received compensation of around 700,000 rupees, the damage to their eight-member generational home is permanent. “The people here are angry,” Mr. Pandey informed me. However, we are also pleased that Ram has a permanent home at last. He spent so much time in a tent. It is now our turn to be hurt.
Development occurs when there is destruction. See what transpires.
Kanti Devi is more scathing since she has lost part of her home. She responds, “We are not happy at all.” “Even the officials visit and inform us that we are causing you significant suffering. Although the temple’s construction is commendable, how does it benefit us? They have demolished all we created in order to let more pilgrims enter the town.”
Officials claim that as part of government initiatives, residents of the destroyed homes and businesses have received financial compensation as well as new homes. “Every payment has been made. There are situations where family law litigation causes a delay. Nothing more needs to be done at this point, Mr. Dayal claims.
In many respects, the history of Ayodhya, where Muslims and Hindus have coexisted in mixed neighborhoods for a long time, has been shaped by immigrants. This persisted even after it was demolished in December 1992 and followed by an attack on the Muslim community, which is said to have resulted in the deaths of eighteen Muslims and the burning of their houses. It was a city that turned into a hotbed of violence motivated by religion.
“We’ve moved on. Still, the incidents cause us pain,” social worker Khaliq Ahmed Khan stated.
Mr. Khan thinks that the cordial ties between Muslims and Hindus in Ayodhya were a result of their long-standing reliance on one another. “Muslim support for Hinduism and Ramadan is closely linked, especially in the temple economy where Muslim trade is vital.” The two groups are integral to one another.”
Professor Raghuvansh Mani of a nearby college agrees, saying that “the local people have minimal involvement in that; the sectarian strife originated from outside.” Since the new temple seeks to open Ayodhya to the outside world, some locals fear that foreigners are dictating their fate.
“Time will tell,” Mr. Pandey replies.