With just five days to go, the run-up to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22 began on Tuesday with a series of rituals, led by a member of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Anil Mishra and his wife, Usha.

These rituals will reach their finale with the consecration, or ‘pran pratishtha’, of the idol of Ram Lalla at the new temple in Ayodhya.

“The ‘anushthan’ has started and will continue till January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony. Eleven priests are performing the rituals invoking all goddesses and gods,” Ram temple chief priest Satyendra Das said, PTI reported.

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The ‘yajman’ at the rituals – including the ones conducted on the final consecration days – is Anil Mishra and his wife Usha Mishra. Typically, the ‘yajman’ is the main “host” of a “puja” – the person on whose behalf the prayers are offered. Mishra has to attend the rituals on all days, including on January 22 when Modi will preside over the event.

On Tuesday, Mishra began by taking a dip in the Saryu river, amid chanting of mantras, and then taking ‘panchgavya’ (cow milk, curd, ghee, gobar and gau mutra), after which he began a fast.

He then performed the ‘Prashchita’, ‘Sankalpa’ and ‘Karmakuti’ puja, which lasted for about eight hours, at the place where the Ram Lalla idol selected for the temple’s sanctum sanctorum was sculpted by sculptor Arun Yogiraj.

PM Modi is scheduled to deliver a speech at the end of the consecration ceremony, expected to be attended by 8,000 guests. But only a handful of them will be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

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The trust said there are seven adhivasas in the ‘pran pratishtha’ and a minimum of three adhivasas are in practice.

There are 121 ‘acharyas’ who are conducting the rituals and Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid is overseeing, coordinating and directing all proceedings of the “anushthan”. The principal ‘acharya’ will be Laxmikant Dixit of Kashi, PTI reported.

Over the next week, rituals like ‘teerth poojan’, ‘jal yatra’ and ‘gandhadhivas’ will take place.

The Ram temple ‘pran pratishtha’ will begin at 12.20 pm on January 22 and is expected to end by 1 pm, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai told reporters on Monday, PTI reported.

Also Read: Ayodhya Ram Mandir Inauguration: Date, time and schedule of event | Check all details here

‘Parisar Pravesh’ today

On January 17, the idol’s “parisar pravesh” will be completed, followed by “teerth poojan”, “jal yatra” and “gandhadhivas” on January 18 and “aushadhadhivas”, “kesaradhivas”, “ghritadhivas” and “dhanyadhivas” on January 19, according to a schedule released by the Trust.

(With inputs from PTI)