Construction of a two-storey temple, at Shri Rama Janmabhoomi (Ayodhya, India) started in 2020. Work on the ground floor is nearing completion and this part of the structure will be opened to the public in January 2024, whilst construction of the upper floor continues. The central shrine on the ground floor will house the deity of Shri Rama as a baby, signifying the site of the temple as Rama’s birthplace. Ayodhya is one of the Sapta-Puri Kshetras (Hinduism’s 7 sacred cities) and hence this festival is of exceptional spiritual and historical importance for Hindus across the world. The Ramayana, which recounts the life of Rama, has shaped the culture, art and social values of communities across the Indian Subcontinent and Indo-China. Rama is also revered by Jains, Buddhists and other indigenous Dharmic traditions.
In the 16th century, the Central Asian emperor Babar desecrated the temple at Ram Janmabhoomi and built a mosque in its place. In the centuries that followed, Hindus have been engaged in a struggle to reclaim this site, which received Hindu pilgrims in spite of the mosque Babar has built over the original Hindu temple. In 1992, the site was reclaimed by Hindu groups. In the years that followed, extensive archaeological studies recorded remains of a series of ancient Hindu temples buried on the site. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ordered the site to be restored by rebuilding a new temple over the site of the ancient one.