Ayodhya is gearing up for the Ram Mandir ‘pran pathishta’ on January 22 and on Friday, the Ram Lalla idol was unveiled with much fanfare in the city. The Ram Lalla idol was placed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Mandir on Thursday amidst the chanting of sacred prayers. While PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath will be present along with other senior BJP leaders on January 22 for the consecration, the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, will be at the Kamakshi Temple in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.
Now, why will the Union Minister be at Kanchipuram on January 22 and what is the relation between Kanchipuram and Ayodhya? There are seven holy Hindu places in India which are known as the Saptha Moksha Puri, the holy places for attaining ‘moksha’. Visiting these religious places is said to give a person ‘moksha’ or liberation from the cycle of birth and death which Hindus believe in. These seven holy cities are Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kashi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), Ujjain and Dwaraka. This is one connection between them.
The most important connection, however, is between Ayodhya’s King Dasharath and Kanchi Kamakshi. According to legend, King Dasharath of Ayodhya, who was childless, is said to have had a dream where he was told to go visit Kanchi Kamakshi in the hope of a child.
He then visited Kanchipuram, which was around 2000 kms away, in Treta Yug to seek the blessings of Goddess Kamakshi. After this holy visit, the King was blessed with four sons, including Lord Ram.
This connection between Kanchipuram and Ayodhya is spoken about in the 39th and 40th chapters of the Lalitopakhyanam, which espouses the greatness of Goddess Kamakshi. Thus, it was King Dasharath’s pilgrimage to Kanchipuram that saw the birth of Lord Ram.
The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham also recognizes and gives importance to this sacred association between Kanchipuram and Ayodhya. In fact, in August 2020 when the Bhumi Pooja was conducted for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the 70th Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Shankaracharya Swami Shankara Vijayendra Saraswati sent a wooden Shanku (conch shell), gold and silver coins, and a Thanjavur painting of Lord Ram on one side and Lakshmi on the other. Five Vedic scholars also travelled from the Peetham to participate in the Bhumi Pooja in Ayodhya.
On January 22, Nirmala Sitharaman will be virtually watching the consecration of the Ram Mandir along with the public in Kanchipuram. Many popular Carnatic musicians, like Sudha Raghunathan and Umayalpuram K Sivaraman, will be taking part in an event where keerthanas’ and odes will be paid in honour of Lord Ram. A social media post on the Union Minister’s profile on Friday stated that the concert will include the Sri Rama Keerthana recitation; Kamba Ramayana Upanyasam by Kalaimamani Thiru. Nagai Mukundan; ‘Pancharathna Keerthana’ by Padma Bhushan Tmt. Sudha Ragunathan, Thiru.
Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman and team; vocal performances by various renowned artists and musicians. Keerthanas of composers such as Thyagaraja, Sadasiva Brahmendra, Arunachala Kavi, Bhadrachala Ramadasu, Annamacharya and Purandara Dasa, as well as verses from the epic Silappathikaram, will be sung.