Ayodhya (UP), February 2
Two ‘sacred rocks’ excavated from the Kaligandaki river of Nepal to build a statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya was handed to the Ram Mandir Trust on Thursday.
At a ceremony in Ayodhya earlier in the day, Janaki Temple Mahantha Ram Tapeshwor Das handed over the rocks or “Shaligram” to the general secretary of Tirtha Chhetra Trust Champat Roy.
Senior Nepali Congress leader and former Home Minister Bimalendra Nidi had taken a lead to excavate the two rocks. “It took us eight days to reach Ayodhya from Nepal,” he said at the ceremony. The eight-day journey was called ‘Shila Yatra’.
Hindus consider rocks from the river, which started flowing south after the formation of the Himalayas 65 million years ago, as “very sacred”.
