Tribal women offer prayers at Hanuman's birth place

Gumla/Sindri: Even as adivasi outfits are at loggerheads with BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for “hurting their religious sentiments” by collecting soil from Sarna Sthals and sending them to Ayodhya for the groundbreaking ceremony, several tribal women in offered special prayers at the temple of Lord Hanuman Anjan village (Gumla district), believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman.

The temple atop a hill was buzzing with activity since Wednesday morning. Ranjay Oraon, mukhiya of Anjan panchayat, said: “Tribal women trekked to the hilltop in the morning to offer prayers to resident deities Lord Ram, Anjani Mata (Hanuman’s mother) and Lord Hanuman.”

In the neighbouring Simdega district, locals lit diyas and exhibited religious fervor to mark the day at Ramrekha Dham. “Locals believe Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman stayed at Ramrekha Dham her for a while during their 14-year-exile and also halted here during their return to Ayodhya from Lanka,” Amarnath Bamalia, secretary of Ramrekha Dham Vikas Samiti said.

In Dhanbad, septuagenarian Saraswati Devi, who took a vow of remaining silent (Maun Vrat) until Ram Temple was commissioned at the janambhoomi three decades ago and spent most of her time in Ayodhya and Chitrakoot, was immersed in prayers with moist eyes, but did not break her vow. “I tried to convince her to break her vow, but she is adamant that she would break her vrat only after the temple construction is complete,” her son Hariram Agarwal said. Her grandson Piyush hoped that the construction of the temple will finish soon. “I have never heard her speak. Whatever she wants, she asks through gestures.”

For Arun Ray, the day was a moment of satisfaction. An ABVP functionary who witnessed the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Ray said “I never thought that I would see the bhoomi pujan of the Ram mandir in my life,” he said.

P Milind, who was arrested along with 17 kar sewaks from Sindri at Mugalsarai station on October 27, 1990, said: “Ram is an ideal for entire humankind and he cannot be seen and understood with a vision coloured with religion or communalism. The younger generation needs to learn lessons from his life.”