Tulasi garlands for Lord Ram at Ayodhya temple from Bengaluru devotees

BENGALURU: With various events being held ahead of the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the countdown for the installation ceremony has begun. While gifts are pouring in from every nook and corner of the country, a Bengalurean will be presenting a Tulasi garland to Lord Ram on the Pran Pratishtha day.

Dr Shivakumar, a resident of Jayanagar in Bengaluru, and his friends had planned to present a Tulasi garland to Lord Ram on the day of the consecration of the idol. They contacted the Pejawar Math seer and, with the approval of the temple trust, they got Tulasi seeds from the Tulasi Van in Gujarat.

Dr Shivakumar of Jayanagar in Bengaluru; (right) the strung Tulasi garlands are sent daily to the temple.

They cultivated the Tulasi on 2 acres of land belonging to a friend, in Bhojpur district, about 60 km from Ayodhya. Three of Shivakumar’s associates have already reached Ayodhya and are involved in the process of preparing the Krishna Tulasi garlands daily. On January 22 also, they will present a Tulasi garland to Lord Ram.

“We wanted to do something for the occasion. When some of our friends suggested that we present Tulasi garland. The Pejawar Math seer helped us a lot. We got the native Tulasi seeds from Gujarat and in September on Krishna Janmashtami day, we sent the seeds to Bhojpur after doing sankalpa. Abhijit Kumar Singh, a friend of one of our associates readily came forward to cultivate the Tulasi on 2 bhigas of his land. We have sent three people by flight to Bhojpur to string the Tulasi garlands”, Shivakumar said.

“The idol was sculpted by a sculptor from Karnataka, those stringing the garlands are also from Karnataka. The garlands are being supplied to the temple from January 15. We plan to continue this in the years to come also” he added.