25-feet tall statue of Lord Hanuman reaches temple in Monroe ahead of Pran Pratishtha ceremony

New Jersey, January 21: A huge 25-feet statue of Lord Hanuman arrived at the Om Sri Sai Balaji temple and culture center in Monroe, New Jersey ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya scheduled for Jan. 22, 2024.

Suryanarayana Maddula, the chairman of the temple and culture center, along with trustee Pankaj Mohan, and co-founders Ramesh Taduvai and Ramkrishna Sannidhi were joined by community leaders Alok Kumar, Sanjeev Singh, Rajiv Akhaury and Anurag Kumar as the statue arrived in Monroe.

They said that it was a great coincidence that at the time of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya, Lord Ram’s biggest devotee Lord Hanuman arrived in New Jersey.

“Today is a great day in the history of Monroe at Om Sri Sai Balaji temple. Hanuman ji came all the way from India. It is a single stone 25 feet long. Ram Ji is arriving in Ayodhya today. The Hanuman temple will be ready by the end of this year and this statue will be erected there,” Suryanarayana Maddula, the Chairman of the temple and culture center said.

The 15-tonne statue is made up of single stone and is the largest indoor statue in all of US.

“It is a huge milestone for us that the ceremony is taking place at Ram Janmabhoomi. Lord Hanuman is a big devotee of Lord Ram. We have made this temple with the traits of both North and South India,” one of the members of the center said.

“We are very happy that this 15-ton statue has arrived here at the same time when Pran Pratishtha ceremony is taking place in Ayodhya,” another member added.

Meanwhile, the United States is geared up ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony with almost a dozen events planned across the United States to celebrate the historic occasion.

There are events lined up all the way from New York Times Square to Boston, as well as in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco that will happen at the same time as the ceremony in India is taking place.

The billboards have gone up in Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Georgia, among other states. Additionally, Arizona and the State of Missouri are set to join this visual celebration, which began on January 15, according to the VHP, American chapter.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), US chapter, in association with Hindus from across the US, has put up more than 40 billboards in 10 states and more, displaying the message around the grand ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony at the birthplace of Shri Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.

To commemorate the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Hindu American community across the US has held several car rallies and planned many more events in the run-up to the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ in Ayodhya.

Notably, the process of Pran Pratishtha has already started from January 16. While the ‘Prayaschit’ and Karmakuti puja were performed on January 16, the idol entered the premises on January 17.

On January 18, Ram Lalla’s idol was installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the grand new temple. Aushadhivas, Kesaradhivas, Ghritadhivas were held on January 19, Dhanyadhivas on January 19, Sugardhivas, Fruitdhivas, Pushpadhivas on January 20 and Madhyadhivas and Shayadhivas on January 21.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who performs the rituals marking the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ along with a team of priests led by Lakshmikant Dixit, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other dignitaries are present on the occasion.

Special guests from cricket world, film world, saint society, politics, art, literature and culture and other fields were invited for the ceremony.