PATNA: While Ayodhya in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh gears up for a grand inauguration of the newly built Ram temple on January 22, its namesake village in Bihar is also busy with its own preparations for the grand day. This nondescript village under Pusa block in Samastipur district goes by the name of Srirampur Ayodhya, but the similarity doesn’t end here.
While UP’s Ayodhya is considered Lord Ram’s birth place, as per epic Ramayan, it is believed he had stayed at the Bihar village on way to Janakpur while leading his wedding procession, due to which the village got its name, old timers say.
The Srirampur Ayodhya village – an 1896-97 Revenue Survey records the village’s name – too is organising a series of programmes to mark the special day, villagers said.
On January 22, the village, home to some 300 families, is planning to celebrate both “Diwali” and “dawat” (feast).
“It is a rare honour and pleasure to be a resident of Ayodhya (in Bihar) and very obviously, we all are exultant and euphoric. It will be both Diwali and dawat on that day,” a village resident Nawal Kishore Choudhary told the TOI on Tuesday.
Choudhary, who recently retired as an agronomy department professor from Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Pusa, said they would organise various religious programmes on January 22 such as recital of Sundarkand from Ramayan and Hanuman Chalisa, offering special prayers and decorating their homes with earthen lamps to celebrate the occasion.
According to him, “Ram Vivah” is the main festival of their village.
“This Diwali (on January 22) will be special and several times more spectacular than the one we celebrated in November. We are urging every household to use only earthen lamps to decorate their homes and not electric bulbs,” another villager Sanjeev Ranjan Choudhary said. “Waise to iss function ko lekar pura Hindustan khush hai lekin hamare jaisa Diwali kahin aur dekhne ko nahin milega (Although whole India is delighted but the Diwali like ours will not be seen anywhere else),” claimed Sanjeev, a farmer.
Vimal Kumar Singh, another villager, said he has planned to give a feast to the villagers to celebrate the occasion. “I am planning to organise a bhandara since January 22 is a big event,” said Singh who has sent invitations to all the villages under 13 panchayats of Pusa block. “Some Muslim villagers too have consented to grace this occasion. This will be a special Diwali,” he claimed.
It was in Samastipur, some 85km from Patna, where then chief minister Lalu Prasad had on October 23, 1990, got arrested Ayodhya-bound BJP leader L K Advani during his Rath Yatra. Advani, who had started the yatra demanding construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, was arrested after he refused to pay heed to Lalu’s appeal to return to Delhi.
While UP’s Ayodhya is considered Lord Ram’s birth place, as per epic Ramayan, it is believed he had stayed at the Bihar village on way to Janakpur while leading his wedding procession, due to which the village got its name, old timers say.
The Srirampur Ayodhya village – an 1896-97 Revenue Survey records the village’s name – too is organising a series of programmes to mark the special day, villagers said.
On January 22, the village, home to some 300 families, is planning to celebrate both “Diwali” and “dawat” (feast).
“It is a rare honour and pleasure to be a resident of Ayodhya (in Bihar) and very obviously, we all are exultant and euphoric. It will be both Diwali and dawat on that day,” a village resident Nawal Kishore Choudhary told the TOI on Tuesday.
Choudhary, who recently retired as an agronomy department professor from Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Pusa, said they would organise various religious programmes on January 22 such as recital of Sundarkand from Ramayan and Hanuman Chalisa, offering special prayers and decorating their homes with earthen lamps to celebrate the occasion.
According to him, “Ram Vivah” is the main festival of their village.
“This Diwali (on January 22) will be special and several times more spectacular than the one we celebrated in November. We are urging every household to use only earthen lamps to decorate their homes and not electric bulbs,” another villager Sanjeev Ranjan Choudhary said. “Waise to iss function ko lekar pura Hindustan khush hai lekin hamare jaisa Diwali kahin aur dekhne ko nahin milega (Although whole India is delighted but the Diwali like ours will not be seen anywhere else),” claimed Sanjeev, a farmer.
Vimal Kumar Singh, another villager, said he has planned to give a feast to the villagers to celebrate the occasion. “I am planning to organise a bhandara since January 22 is a big event,” said Singh who has sent invitations to all the villages under 13 panchayats of Pusa block. “Some Muslim villagers too have consented to grace this occasion. This will be a special Diwali,” he claimed.
It was in Samastipur, some 85km from Patna, where then chief minister Lalu Prasad had on October 23, 1990, got arrested Ayodhya-bound BJP leader L K Advani during his Rath Yatra. Advani, who had started the yatra demanding construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, was arrested after he refused to pay heed to Lalu’s appeal to return to Delhi.