Designed by renowned Architect Chandrakant B Sompura, along with his son Ashish Sompura.

A
design which was 30 years in the making. This is no ordinary building, Standing at nearly 50 meters
tall, 72 meters wide and over a 100 meters long. This building is considered to be an architectural
masterpiece. No I’m not talking about the Burj Khalifa. Located in the holy city of Ayodhya on the
east side of the state of Uttar Pradesh, lays the Ram Mandhir. Now you may be asking what is so
special about this temple. What significance does it hold? Well as a matter of facts many believe this
to be the Ram Janmabhoomi or the birthplace of Lord Ram. And Just like the story of Lord Ram, The
Ram Mandir has faced many obstacles and challenges.

Before we dive into the history of the Ram Mandir. Lets Paint a picture of its magnificence. Well I
have already given yall the measurements of the building but have not really described it. Imagine a
3 story Structure. The temple contains 5 halls and 5 curvilinear towers. If most of yall are unaware of
what a curvilinear tower is, try and think of like a spiral tower, similar to what is at the hare krishna
temple in Durban. Same Same but different you know? The temple is supported by around 300
pillars and 44 doors, of which some are covered in 100kgs of gold. The bricks used in the
construction of this mandir also contains the inscription of Lord Rams Name on each of them. The
sanctum sanctorum or most revered part of the temple contains Makrana marble which is the same
stone used in the construction of the taj mahal. The architectural design of the building is called
nagara style. This is an ancient building pattern which consists of using clay and marble instead of
modern day materials such as iron, steel, cement or mortar. This is to ensure the temple is durable
and lasts over a 1000 years. Along the walkways or the parikrama path, 100 events from Valmiki’s
Ramayana have been engraved on the walkways and columns. Each corner of the compound has a
temple built into it dedicated to Surya Bhagwaan, Devi Bhagwati, Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva. In
the Northern side of the temple lays a temple dedicated to Maa Annapurna while in the southern
region lays a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman. A historic well called Sita Koop is located near the
temple which dates back to the ancient era.

As I said, the story of the Ram Mandir is not one of the happiest, there has been challenges and
obstacles which prevented Hindus from actually worshipping such a holy city. Think of it as how
Muslims pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, or Christians Travel to their holy city of Jerusalem. This
is said to be the birthplace of Lord Ram and between the period of 1528 to 2024 all there has been
was debates and fights. So lets dive into this. So the journey actually starts with the birth of lord
Ram, but I have been given a time limit so I cant recite the whole Ramayana for yall. Google the
summary if you need to. But lets travel to a more recent events. In 1528 Mughal rule Babur’s general
Mir Baqi constructed a mosque after razing a temple at Lord Rama’s birthplace. Around 1853 we see
the start of religious violences coming out over the site of the Babri Masjib. Under the rule of Nawab
Wajid Shah, the Nirmohis, a hindu Sect asserted that a hindu temple has been demolished to make
way for the mosque. Years later Under the rule of the British, a fence has been installed to partition
the site into two sections. Muslims were now granted permission within the mosque and hindus
were designated the outer court.

In 1885 a plea to construct a canopy of the ramchabutra outside the mosque was denied. Things laid
dormant for awhile, there was still a rivalry going on and the fire was lit and burning brighter than
ever. During 1949, an idol of lord Ram surfaced inside Babri Masjib. Petitions were filed to worship
the idol, some residents approached the court saying the idol should be removed and area should
remain a masjid, The government out of fear of things getting out of hand decided to lock down the
place but priests were still allowed to perform daily puja.
In 1961 a plea was submitted to restore the rights of the land to muslims. In the 1980s Vishwa Hindu
Parishad party established with the objective of liberating the birthplace of Lord Ram and
constructing a temple in his honour. The Ayodhya Court orders the mosque to be opened for Hindu
to offer prayers. Another order was issues to open the gates of the contested mosque so that hindus
could worship there. The muslim community in protest formed the Babri Mosque Action Committee.
As such the gates of Babri Masjid were ordered to be opened. This now led to all hindus being
granted access to the site and as such the property assumed the duel role as a hindu temple and a
muslim mosque.

VHP initiates the construction of a ram temple on the adjacent land of the Masjid in 1989 and the
next year a rath yatra was organized. The primary objective of this rally was to express support for
the ram temple. Prime Minister VP Singh granted authorization to Lalu Yadav who was the chief
minister of Bihar to arrest LK Advani.

In 1992 the mosque was then demolished but a group of karsevaks, which them triggered
widespread communal riots throught the country resulting in the loss of approx. 2000 lives. Years
later after the events of the mosque being destroyed a train carrying a group of kar sevaks was burnt,
in the process 58 people were burnt alive leading to more Gujarat riots claiming another 1000 lives.
Archaeological Survey of India surveyed the site and reported evidence of a significant hindu
complex beneath the mosque. Muslim organizations disputed these findings leading to continuous
disagreements regarding the historical interpretation of the site.

During an archeological dig they found 12 pillars of the mosque that were made from the remains of
a Hindu temple. The base of the pillars had a Purna Kalasha which was a 'ghada' from which foliage
would be coming out. These symbols were found in almost all the temples of the 12th and 13th
Century. The excavation team found many terracotta sculptures that depicted human beings and
animals, a characteristic of a temple, not a mosque.

In 2010 the Site is now divided into 3 parts. 1 part allocated to Ram Lalla represented by the Hindu
Mahasabha, 1 part dedicated to the Islamic Waqf Board and the last part to Nirmohi Akhara. It didn’t
take long after for each part to start disputing over the land again.

In 2019 the supreme court issued a verdict rdering the disputed land of 2.77 acres to be transferred
to a trust for the ram janmabhooi temple. Additionally an alternative five acres of land was to be
allocated to for the construction of a mosque.

In 2020 PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the temple. Many
engineers lives had been threatened and lives had been lost during the construction of the ram
mandir and finally after many years of turmoil and suffering the ram mandir was consecrated on the
22nd of January 2024.