Residents of Fatehgarh in Odisha’s Nayagarh district have built a temple of Lord Ram and will hold the consecration ceremony on Monday, coinciding with the consecration ceremony of the Ram idol in Ayodhya.

The 73-foot-high Ram temple in Odisha has been built on a hilltop, about 1,800 feet above sea level.

Yudhisthira Khuntia, general secretary of Sri Ram Parishad, told The Telegraph: “Many dignitaries have given consent to attend the inaugural function of the temple. Even Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati has given his consent to attend the ceremony and we have also printed the invitation card. The consecration ceremony will be held on Monday.”

The temple has come up at a cost of around Rs 20 crore in five years’ time. It was built with donations from common people. “We did the silanyasa (the rituals of laying the foundation stone) for the temple in 2017. The temple construction began in 2018. With the donations from devotees, the temple has been a reality. In order to reach atop the hill to have a darshan of the temple, we have built a two-kilometre motorable road with the help of villagers. Now devotees can go to the top to have darshan of the deities in the temple without facing any hassles,” said Khuntia.

For the Prana Pratishtha of the idol in this temple, the rituals have begun. Kalasha Yatra was held on Thursday. Hundreds of women fetched water from the Mahanadi river for the consecration ceremony. “We will install the statue of Lord Ram, Lord Laxman and Goddess Sita inside the sanctum sanctorum. The temple of Lord Ganesh, Lord Hanuman, Lord Surya will also come up on the premises of the temple,” Tapan Patnaik, another member, said.

On being asked how did the villagers think of constructing a temple here on the hilltop, Patnaik said: “We used to worship Lord Gobardhan when we faced a drought-like situation. Once the Puja was performed atop the hill, there was rain. Besides 112 years ago, a daru (wood) was taken to Puri from this hill known as Ram Hill for the construction of Goddess Sudarshan, the weapon of Lord Jagannath. People’s religious sentiments are attached to the hill.”

He further said: “One of the villagers also had a dream in which the Lord wanted a temple on the top of the hills. So all the villagers united and decided to construct the temple. Nearly 400 to 500 artisans used to build this magnificent temple. No iron rods were used for the construction of the temple. Only Khondalite stones (Baulamala pathara) are used for this purpose.”