A man in Ayodhya has built a temple dedicated to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Prabhakar Maurya, a 32-year-old describes himself as a ‘Yogi pracharak’ (Yogi publicist) and Youtuber who has created numerous songs for the party. He said he had promised himself that he would build a temple for whoever would enable the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Maurya, who has studied till class 10 lives in the village of Maurya ka Purwa, just over three kilometres from Nandigram. This is the place from where Prince Bharat had ruled when Lord Ram was in exile. The temple complex at Nandigram also contains the khadau (wooden slippers with thick wooden souls) of Lord Ram, which Bharat had seated on the throne while he filled in for his brother.
On August 5, 2020, the day of the bhoomi pujan of the Ram Janmbhoomi temple at Ayodhya, Maurya started work on the Shri Yogi Mandir. Two sculptors — one from Rajasthan and another from Barabanki were roped in to build a statue in the likeness of Adityanath. This July the small temple spread over 20 by 20 feet was thrown open to devotees.
No priest has been appointed and Maurya himself sings a self-composed aarti twice a day. The chorus for the hymn goes, ‘Jai, Jai Yogi Baba’. It traces Adityanath’s journey from childhood. One of the initial lines goes, ‘Choti umr mein ghar ko chodda aaye Gorakdham, Avaidhyanath ke charnon mein Baba ne kiya pranam’ (Loosely translated-- At a young age he left home and reached Gorakhpur where he touched the feet of Avaidhyanath— the guru of Adityanath). The hymn is set to the generic tune to which most aartis are sung.
The life-size statue of Adityanath bears a quiver full of arrows and a bow in its right hand. Behind his head is the likeness of the sun. Lord Ram was of the sooryavanshi dynasty of which the sun was the symbol.
Maurya said that the bow and arrow were apt for the statue. “Yogi ji is aiming his arrows at all kinds of crime and corruption. This is the correct symbol”.
Rs 7 lakhs went into the construction of the temple. This money came from Maurya's Youtube channel, which is flooded with compositions such as, ‘Garaj rahein hanuman gagan mein, kalyug jaane wala hai, poora desh ye bol raha hai Yogi yug aane wala hai’ (Hanuman is thundering in the heavens, Kalyug is on its way out, the entire country is saying Yogi -age is on its way’.