How the Ram temple found its foundation

Even as the temple superstructure spells grandeur and evokes awe, the foundation of the Ram temple in Ayodhya which is set to be inaugurated on January 22, tells the story of an engineering nightmare that experts from across the most prestigious engineering institutions in India got together to turn into a marvel.

The 161 ft high temple initially did not have a solid foundation to rest itself on but loose sand which was then converted into rocks using science and technology to enable the temple to come up on the area.

According to Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra- the trust bringing up the temple, when soil testing started for the foundation, it was found that there was no soil, but pure loose sand which was unsuitable for building a foundation. Rai said when this was confirmed, it was decided that Larsen & Toubro (L&T) carrying out the construction should not alone be left to deal with it. That is when top directors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) across its Delhi, Guwahati, Chennai, and Bombay campuses, the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee as well as National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) were roped in and after months of discussions during Covid-19 time in 2020, it was decided that the sand will be removed.


Up to 14m of sand across 6 acres was removed. "When it was all removed, I exclaimed, "It looks like an ocean!", it was that large an expanse," Rai said. The entire scooped-out area was then filled with 56 layers of a special kind of concrete mixture called 'Rolled Compacted Concrete', to prepare rocks for the foundation. This special concrete without a shred of iron is used only in the foundation. The rest of the temple is made in pink sandstone brought in from Rajasthan's Bharatpur, while granite from Karnataka and Telangana is used to make the 21ft tall plinth.

Girish Sahasrabhojanee, design and construction manager at the temple said the presence of loose, alluvial soil at the birth site was because in historical times, Saryu river flew very close to the site at which the temple is coming up.