Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Bharat’s Quest for Ram-Rajya by Swadesh Singh (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

 

1^st Book of 2024

 

I remember reading about Ram Mandir in 2011 descriptively in the newspapers when one of the prominent hearings in the court was going on. That was the first time when I understood the prominence and controversy around Ram Mandir and why it has become so important for certain section of our society – surprisingly the section which counts as majority in our nation. 4 years back, I turned into a Vishnu devotee. At this point of time while I was reading about Lord Vishnu and his avatars and the most famous one – Lord Ram, I realized the importance of Ram Mandir which was due to be built at his birthplace. Luckily, the Bhoomi Pujan happened just after.

 

Since then, I wanted to know all about its history etc. which I got a great opportunity to finally learn when Swadesh Singh released his latest book this January named “Ayodhya Ram Mandir”. I must applaud Rupa Publication as well for publishing this book as it might have turned into a controversy and despite howsoever secular our nation is, whenever it comes to such sensitive topic, it is objected by certain section of audience whatsoever might be the case. Anyway, talking about the book, it helps us understand the whole history of the establishment of Ram Mandir and its multiple destruction by different rulers of India. It helps us get into the past and know about the psychology of people towards this temple and why it is so prominent even after centuries for the Indian civilization.

 

The 1^st chapter discusses the significance of the land of Ayodhya. Author delves into explaining us about the Ikshvaku dynasty and all its respective kings. It tells how Ayodhya has always been a major part in the history of India. Along with it, author discusses about the different set of rules under which temple and its existence suffered right from Mauryan, Gupta, Mughals and finally, Britishers. The 2^nd chapter finally brings us to the modern India where the first case gets filed in the Indian judiciary in the year 1822 and how it kept on struggling in court until 2019. I was surprised to learn how intellectually and smartly Supreme Court rejected the judgment of High court which gave three different parties equal land at the birthplace. It is also a proud moment to learn how Indians accepted the Supreme Court judgment and there was no major case of any violence across India.

 

In the latter part of the book, author moves towards the current scenario where the construction of Ram temple has begun in Ayodhya and is ready to be open for its devotees to worship Lord Ram in his childhood avatar proudly standing at its rightful location – Lord Ram’s birthplace. Author gets into details and gives an overview on the design, architecture and the whole insight on how the whole temple and the premises will look like. The way author has written the whole part actually makes you visualize the whole temple in front of your eyes. It will make you impatient as the construction of whole temple premises will take some more years for us to view what it is actually planned and aspired to be.

 

Swadesh also discusses how the development of modern Ayodhya is being planned along with the temple because it becomes very necessary for the whole locality to have different tourist spots for the devotees to enjoy as people come from faraway places and expect every lane to give an essence of Lord Ram’s presence. I am glad the way author narrated about all the existing attractions around Ayodhya such as Sarayu River, Hanumangarhi, Kanak Bhawan, Shri Nageshwarnath temple, Sita ki rasoi etc. Along with this, author also talks about how these attractions shall be further beautified after the temple gets opened for its devotees.

 

Along with the importance of Ayodhya for Sanatan Dharm, Swadesh speaks about how it is also equally worshipped by other religions such as Jains and Buddhists as well. I wasn’t aware about Ayodhya’s relevance as a spiritual fabric of the nation for multiple religions which the book made me decipher in very easy language. Swadesh has divided the chapters in a manner where each of them talks about a topic specifically which makes the interest alive for the readers and keep them focused towards the subject.

 

His research and efforts are visible in every sentence as author has deep dived into the subject. He could have made this book difficult for all of us by getting into the legal aspects in the language of our Indian law but he keeps it simple for all the audience to understand and learn from an overview aspect as to how the whole phenomena around Ram temple kept disturbing the emotions of the people aspiring to pray their Lord on his birthplace itself. Also, the book is of around 160 pages hence it becomes easy to go through it in few sittings itself.

 

Overall, this book is an excellent read specially at this point of time when Ram Temple is already open for all of us. It is going to be a very different experience while visiting Ayodhya after reading this book hence I would recommend everyone to read this one before planning an Ayodhya visit. It will also help you understand when is the best time to be there on the spiritual land based on the development that has been planned by Government along with its timelines. I rate this book 4.5* out of 5.

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Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA