The Ram Lalla idol at the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir ahead of its 'Pran Pratishthan' ceremony.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Ram Temple's chief priest Satyendra Das said on Saturday that the pictures of the Ram Lalla's idol with its eyes visible, which was viral on social media, was not the 'real' one.
Das said that the eyes of the Ram Lalla idol could not be revealed before the 'pran pratishtha' (consecration). ''The pictures which show the eyes of the idol are not real,'' the priest said in Ayodhya.
Das also sought a probe as to how the pictures of the idol with its eyes visible were on the social media. ''How the pictures made their way to social media...who showed them....it should be investigated,'' he said.
The pictures of the Ram Lalla idol, which appeared first on social media on Thursday showed the idol being covered with a cloth. The pictures which appeared on social media on Saturday however showed the entire idol without any cover on the eyes.
The newly built idol of the Ram Lalla was installed on Thursday in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple amid chanting of Vedic hymns by priests.
Earlier, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Khestra Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple, had released the pictures of the idol but it was completely covered with clothes. The idol now sits on an 'asana' inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
The priests associated with the rituals said that the auspicious timing of the 'pran pratishtha' was from 12:29 PM to 12:30 PM. Prime minister Narendra Modi is the chief 'yajman' at the ceremony.