It took five months of hard work to finalise the draft that would be sent to people for the inaugural ceremony of the temple for Rama in Ayodhya. A little-known 67-year-old Madhav Bhan of Ghaziabad prepared the invitation letter for the ceremony to be held on 22 January. The conceptualisation involved discussions between several top-rung RSS pracharaks and BJP leaders at the Ray Madhav Art studio in Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad.
Bhan prepared the draft invitation letter thrice, with each attempt falling short of the leaders’ satisfaction. The fourth attempt succeeded. It has a description of Rama and details of the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya.
Pictures of the temple adorn every page of the invitation letter. Bhan visited Ayodhya several times to prepare the letter and discussed it with the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust officials there.
The five-page invitation card, prepared under the advice and supervision of Champat Rai and Bhayyaji Joshi, highlights the brightness of Diwali, which came to be referred to as the festival of lights as the subjects of Ayodhya celebrated the return of their king after the seventh avatara of Vishnu slayed demon Ravana and rescued wife Sita.
The invitation letter has reached many other countries too, thanks to the Government of India deploying diplomats and foreign missions for the purpose.
Two and a half years ago, a brochure was made to collect donations for the construction of the Ram temple, which proved effective in collecting donations. Keeping this in mind, this invitation card was designed by my company Ray Madhav Art over five months. With high-level consultation, changes had to be made in the design time and again.
Madhav Bhan, invitation card designer
Bhan says this is not an ‘invitation letter’ but a medium to bring SriRama anew to people. Ghaziabad MLA Atul Garg says that it is a matter of pride for the city that the letter for the special festival, which is resonating in the country and the world, was designed and printed by a resident of Ghaziabad.
Invitation letter with perspective
A page of the letter explains why those who led the Ram Janmabhoomi movement to reclaim the land chose the child form of Rama as the deity for the temple. The period from 1528 to 1983 witnessed a struggle between the saints of Ayodhya, some neighbouring princely states that were vassals of the Mughals and previous Islamist regimes and the Hindu population at large.
After 1983, Hindus started becoming aware of Rama’s birthplace. This happened through the ‘Jagachetna’ campaign of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, in which about 15,000 saints participated.
The campaign for the liberation of Rama Janmabhoomi reached three lakh villages in the country. Further, based on historical evidence, in November 2019, five judges of the Supreme Court of India unanimously dedicated this place back to Ram Lalla, who was amusingly a litigant in the case!
On 22 January, rituals of consecrating the murti of the child Rama will conclude.
The initiation of the invitation letter, which seeks to recreate an aura of ancient times with its gloss, describes Ayodhya as the dham (pilgrimage centre) of Rama. The letter ends with a description of Ayodhya as “Maryadapuri”.
On the second page of this invitation, there is information about the soil of Ayodhya. It reads: “It is believed that the soil of Ayodhya is full of divine energy, it symbolizes the eternal connection between Lord Shri Ram and his birthplace, which awakens reverence and devotion in the hearts of devotees from generation to generation, Which will be given to every devotee through this gift. (translated from Hindi)”
Chaupai of Ramcharitmanas, AI-based special application
A chaupai (verse consisting of four lines) of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas features on this page. A gist on the accompanying page on the left is titled “Kan-kan mein Ram, har ghar mein Ram” (Rama in every spec, Rama in every home), with a description, “Hamaari adhyatmik dharohar ka punarjeevan” (rejuvenation of our spiritual heritage). The page also explains how relevant the ideals of Rama are even in the modern age.
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The letter talks also about starting an application based on AI, which will introduce people and future generations to the treasure of knowledge of Rama, Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas. Users can get answers to their religion-related questions through this app.
The third part of the invitation features another chaupai of Ramcharitmanas, with some soil from Ayodhya attached to a small glass vial and a copper coin, on one side of which figures the Ayodhya temple and on the other side a picture of Rama.
