The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Tuesday marked the Ram Navami celebrations as the 'Surya Tilak' illuminated the forehead of the deity, marking the Ram Navami celebrations in the temple town.
The visual spectacle was created via an elaborate mechanism involving mirrors and lenses. It was meticulously planned, designed and implemented by CSIR-CBRI Roorkee in consultation with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore.
Prakash Gupta the spokesperson of the temple told PTI that the Surya Tilak was done for around 4-5 minutes when the sun rays were directly focused on the forehead of the Ram Lalla idol. "The temple administration prevented the devotees from entering the sanctum sanctorum at the time of the Surya Tilak to avoid overcrowding," Gupta said.
Dr DP Kanungo, the Chief Scientist at CSIR-CBRI, Roorkee, told PTI, "As planned, the Surya Tilak of Ram Lalla was perfectly executed at 12:00 pm" The system was tested by the scientists on Tuesday.
The opto-mechanical system consists of four mirrors and four lenses fitted inside the tilt mechanism and piping systems. "The complete cover with aperture for the tilt mechanism is placed at the top floor to divert the Sun rays through mirrors and lenses to the garbha girha. The final lens and mirror focus the Sun rays to the forehead of Shri Ram facing towards the east. The tilt mechanism is used to adjust the first mirror tilting for sending the Sun rays towards the north direction to the second mirror for making the Surya tilak every year on Shri Ram Navami day," Dr S K Panigrahi, scientist at CSIR-CBRI Roorkee, who was associated with the project told PTI.
While the piping and other parts are manufactured using brass material, high-quality and durable mirrors and lenses were used. "The inner surface of pipes, elbows and enclosures are black powder coated to avoid scattering of sunlight. Also at the top aperture, IR (infra red) filter glass is used to restrict the Sun heat wave to fall on the forehead of the idol," Panigrahi said.
(With PTI inputs)