Yogi government plans grand Diwali celebration in Ayodhya

A 30-feet high 3-D styrofoam statue of Lord Ram, an inflatable Jatayu made of parachute material suspended in the sky, a 20-feet charanpaduka (footwear) of Lord Ram, vaanar Sena (monkey army) depicted on the Saryu Bridge, a Pushpak Viman. All these will be accessible through a giant arched gate at Ram Katha Park for people to pass through Lord Hanuman’s chest. The spectacle will be mounted at Ayodhya by the Yogi Adityanath government as part of a 3-day Diwali celebration this year.

The UP government plans for ‘Deepotsav’ in Ayodhya this November include specially decorated boats in Saryu River, a water projection show on the river opposite Ram Ki Paidi and a fireworks show.

“This Diwali in Ayodhya will be on a grander scale than the last time. The water projection show of international standards will run from November 3 to 9 while the hour-long aerial firecracker show will be on Diwali, November 6. A big programme has also been drawn up for Ram Katha Park which will see world-class artistic installations,” a UP government official said. Like last year, the state government will also attempt a world record of lighting maximum number of diyas (earthen lamps) on the Saryu river banks.


The artistic installations to be put up at Ram Katha Park in Ayodhya will include a digital Ramayan covering all 14 versions of the epic celebrated across as many countries, a large 16-feet high lamp installation and a Ram Darbar (Lord Ram’s Palace) made of fibre along with the visual of a temple. All entries to Ayodhya will have specially branded and lit-up gates with Ramayana verses painted on them while temples in the city will be lit up for those three days of festivity.

The water projection show is expected to be a special draw as it will create a “semi-circular hydro screen’ on the river depicting the journey of Lord Ram to Ayodhya. ET had earlier reported that UP government had cited the famous ‘Wings of Time’ and ‘Crane Dance’ water shows at Sentosa Island in Singapore as reference for this water show.