Golden bow and arrow, ornamental details: How Lord Ram idol carved from white stone looks

This idol is one of the two Lord Ram idols that were not selected to be installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. These two idols carved by sculptors from Rajasthan and Karnataka will be placed in other areas of the temple once the construction is completed, according to the Trust.

After the installation of the 51-inch Ram Lalla idol carved of black stone in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a picture of one of the two remaining Lord Ram idols carved by the sculptors from Rajasthan and Karnataka surfaced on the internet on Wednesday.

The picture shows this idol carved out of white marble wherein Lord Ram is holding a golden bow and arrow in his hands. Satyanarayan Pandey is the sculptor who carved this white marble idol of Lord Ram. This along with the third Lord Ram idol carved by sculptor Ganesh Bhatt of Karnataka will be placed in the other areas of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Sculptor Pandey has etched ornamental and clothing details on the Lord Ram idol which is surrounded by arch-like structure with smaller sculptures depicting various incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The dimensions of the idol align with those laid down by the Trust overseeing the construction of the temple.

Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is likely to decide on the installation of the above two Lord Ram idols only once the construction of the entire temple in completed. The 51-inch Ram Lalla idol weighing 200 kgs, which was installed in the garbha griha after the pran pratishtha ceremony, is made out of black stone that is 3 billion years old.

"The rock is highly durable and resistant to climatic variation and will sustain thousands of years in this subtropical zone with minimum maintenance," NDTV quoted HS Venkatesh, the Director of the National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM), Bengaluru, as saying. This black stone was taken from H D Taluk in Karnataka and was subjected to testing at the NIRM facility to check its sustainability and resistance.

"Based on extensive geological, petrological, and geochronological studies carried out by the Department of Earth Science, for more than three decades, it has been found that the rock used to carve the idol of Sri Ram Lalla is the oldest rock from South India," said a UGC-emeritus professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Mysore— referring to the idol which is now placed in the sanctum sanctorum.

Arun Yogiraj, who carved the black stone Lord Ram idol chosen for the garbha griha shared, "I spent sleepless nights working on the idol with precision but it was all worth it. I feel I am the luckiest person on the earth and today is the best day of my life."