Edited by Deepali Verma
The grand temple at Ayodhya for Ram Lalla is truly an incredible amalgamation of traditional Bharatiya heritage architecture incorporating science for construction so that it lasts for centuries.
“The temple was constructed to last over a thousand years,” asserted Shri Nripendra Misra.
Shri Nripendra Misra is the chairperson of the temple construction committee of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Ayodhya. He informs that the top Bharatiya scientists have contributed towards making it an iconic structure. ISRO technologies have been suitably employed in the temple.
The architectural design was made as per the Nagar Shaily or the northern Bharatiya temple designs by Chandrakant Sompura who has been into designing heritage temple structures as a family tradition that goes back some 15 generations. The family has designed close to 100 temples.
Mr Sompura remarks “In the field of architecture Shri Ram Temple will stand as the rarely seen, unique kind of splendid creation ever conceptualised not only in Bharat but at any place on Earth.”
The total area of the temple is 2.7 acres while the built-up area is about 57,000 square feet. It will be a three-floor structure, as informed by Nripendra Misra. Further, he added that no iron or steel has been incorporated in the temple as the life of iron is merely 80-90 years. The height of the temple will be 161 feet.
“The extremely top quality of granite, sandstone, and marble has been used and there has been no usage of cement or lime mortar in the joints; only a lock and key mechanism employing the groves and ridges has been made in the construction of the entire structure”, says Dr Pradeep Kumar Ramancharla, who is the Director of the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee. He has actively participated in the construction project. CBRI informs that the structural design of 3 floors has been done to resist an earthquake of the return period of 2,500 years.
Mr Misra reveals that upon analysis, it was found that the ground below the temple was sandy and unstable since the Sarayu River had its course near the site at one point, and this posed a special challenge. Despite this, the scientists found a successful ingenious solution to this problem.
The procedure was started with the soil for the entire temple area being excavated out to a depth of 15 metres where no steel rebars were used, and the 47 layered bases were compacted to ensure that it stood solid rock-like. Over this, a 1.5 metre thick M-35 grade metal-free concrete raft was put down as a reinforcement. To additionally strengthen the foundation, a plinth of 6.3 metre thick solid granite stone that was extracted from southern Bharat was placed.
The part of the temple that will be visible to visitors is constructed using pink sandstone called ‘Bansi Paharpur’ stone extracted from Rajasthan. As per the CBRI, the total number of columns on the ground floor is 160, the first floor 132, and the second floor 74, they are all made of sandstone and carved on the outside. The sanctum-sanctorum is lined with white makrana marble sourced from Rajasthan. Incidentally, the Taj Mahal was made using marble from the Makrana mines.
“After analysis of close to 50 computer models, the chosen model, which preserves the Nagara style of architecture, ensures both performance and architectural integrity. The modifications proposed enhance the structure’s architecture, at the same time maintaining safety against a 2500-year return period earthquake. What is noteworthy is the dry-jointed structure designed for a 1000-year lifespan primarily makes use of interlocked stone, without any steel reinforcement,” CBRI says.
The institute’s engagement in the construction of Ram Mandir has been pivotal since early 2020 and has contributed the following in a project mode: structural design of the main temple; design of the ‘Surya Tilak’ mechanism; design vetting of the temple foundation, and the monitoring of structural health of the main temple.
Dr Sharda Srinivasan, an archaeologist with specialisation in heritage metals working at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru says “During the earlier periods, the traditional style of temple architecture was of the dry masonry and remarkably ir made use of no mortar nor any iron and steel. The method of Mortise and Tenon of joining rocks was used to hold blocks together, that is with interlocking grooves and pegs, and the use of the trabeate system of lintels spanning columns with horizontal beams was used. The carved columns, that are often monolithic, featured a rather swollen capital to bear the vertical loads, while the shikara was constructed employing the corbelling technique with lintels and going progressively inwards to form a more pyramidal shape. The sandstone Ram Temple highlights the aforementioned features. Sandstone comes with better tensile strength amongst stones to support the trabeated structure.”
