 "Ram Lalla darshan: Huge crowds flock to Ayodhya Ram temple on second day")
Two days after Ram Lalla's "pran pratishtha" ceremony, thousands of devotees continue to flock to Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya. Visuals from outside the temple show a huge crowd braving the cold winter morning for a 'darshan' of Lord Ram.
Around 1,000 Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed in and around the temple complex to ensure devotees get their turn for Ram Lalla's 'darshan'.
Non-stop devotees influx at Ayodhya's Ram temple
Praveen Kumar, inspector-general of police, Ayodhya, said that people are gathering in the temple town non-stop.
"The crowd is non-stop, but preparations are complete. We appeal to the old and Divyang people to schedule their visit after two weeks. I want to appeal to the people that there's no need to hurry for Darshan. The temple will be opened for everyone with better preparations," the senior police official said.
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Special additional deputy-general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar said the queue system to manage crowds has been improved. Dedicated channels for people have been made.
READ: UP CM urges cooperation as 500,000 devotees visit Ram temple on day one
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"The Principal Secretary Home and I are present here to oversee the management. 'Darshan' is going on smoothly now. We have improved the queue system for crowd management," Kumar said.
Vijay Kumar, director-general of police, Uttar Pradesh, said earlier that a sufficient number of security personnel had been deployed to manage the crowd.
How many people visited Ram mandir on day 1?
Around 500,000 devotees visited the Ram temple complex on day one as it opened its doors to the public on Tuesday, a day after the consecration ceremony.
A huge rush of devotees was witnessed outside the temple complex on this chilly winter's day, many of whom had queued up since 3 am to gain entry to the temple, catch a glimpse of Ram Lalla and offer prayers.
Darshan was briefly paused due to an overwhelming influx of devotees. The temple administration, in coordination with the police, decided to manage the immense crowd and ensure the safety of all visitors.
Monkey enters 'garbha griha' of Ram mandir
In a "beautiful" incident at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, a monkey entered the 'garbha griha' or sanctum sanctorum on Tuesday evening and went near Lord Ram's Utsav idol, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra said.
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Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the temple trust shared the incident and said that a monkey entered the sanctum sanctorum through the southern gate and went near the Utsav idol. Seeing this, the security personnel ran towards the monkey, concerned that it might drop the idol on the ground.
"As soon as the policemen ran towards the monkey, the monkey ran calmly towards the northern gate. Since the gate was closed, he moved towards the east and, passing through the crowd, went out through the eastern gate without causing any trouble to anyone. The security personnel say that for us it is as if Hanuman ji himself has come to see Ram Lalla," the trust wrote.
Ram mandir: Darshan and aarti timings
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra website has set out certain time windows for devotees to see Lord Ram Lalla: morning from 7 am to 11:30 am and afternoon from 2 pm to 7 pm.
'Aarti' timings include jagran/shringar at 6:30 am and sandhya aarti at 7:30 pm. Passes for the 'aarti' can be obtained both offline and online. Offline passes are available at the camp office at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and require valid government identity proof.