Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya Ram Mandir

Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya Ram Mandir

Context: The pran pratishtha ceremony will be held on January 22, and various rituals will begin from January 16.

Background:
• While the basic meaning of pran pratishtha — giving life to the idol — is simple enough, the ceremony involves various rituals taken from the Vedas and Puranas, each with its own significance.

What is Pran Pratishtha?
• Pran prathistha is the act which transforms an idol into a deity, giving it the capacity to accept prayers and grant boons. For this, the statue has to go through various stages.

What are the various stages??

Shobha yatra
• One of the first stages is a shobha yatra, or a procession of the idol, taken out in the neighbourhood of the temple. For the Ram idol in Ayodhya, the shobha yatra is on January 17.
• During this yatra, as the idol is greeted and cheered on by onlookers, some of their devotion is transferred into it.

The adhivas
• To ready the idol for the pran pratishtha, multiple adhivaas are conducted, in which the idol is submerged in various materials.
• For example, for one night, the idol is kept in water, which is called jalãdhivãs. Then it is submerged in grain, which is called dhãnyãdhivãs.

Ritual bath
• After this, the idol is given a ritual bath and its abhishek is performed with various materials, depending on the scale of the ceremony.

Opening of the eyes (Most important ceremony)
• After the statue has adequately recovered from the stress of its fashioning and has been given its ritual bath comes the time for it to be awakened. Many mantras are chanted, asking for various Gods to come and animate its various parts — Soorya the eyes, Vayu the ears, Chandra the mind, etc.
• Then comes the final step, the opening of the statue’s eyes. This ceremony involves putting anjan, somewhat like kohl, around the deity’s eyes, with a gold needle. This process is carried out from behind, as it is believed that if one looks into God’s eyes the moment they open, their brilliance can be too much to take.

Where are these steps mentioned?
• The process of the pran pratishtha is mentioned in the Vedas and elaborated upon in various Puranas, such as Mastya Puran, Vaman Puran, Narad Puran, etc.

Is there an idol that does not need pran pratishtha?
• Two divine objects — the Shaligram found in the Gandki river, and the Narmadeshwar, a shivling found in the Narmada river, do not need pran pratishtha, for they carry divinity within them.