‘Ram Lalla’s wardrobe is no less than a real-life treasure trove’ is an old saying among those who take care of the idol of young Lord Ram in Ayodhya.
Made with silver threads, gold and precious stones, maintaining Ram idol’s clothes is not a child’s play. Therefore, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra has hired designer Manish Tripathi, who made uniforms for the Indian Army, Border Security Force and jerseys for the Indian Cricket Team, for Lord Ram Lalla’s sartorial collection.
“Indeed managing Lord Ram’s wardrobe is not easy. But I am thankful to Yogi Adityanath ji, Champat Rai ji (general secretary of the trust) and the temple trust for entrusting me with such a huge responsibility… I won’t charge a single penny for my work. It’s going to be my contribution towards Bhagwan Ram on his homecoming,” says Tripathi.
Tripathi made Lord Ram’s attire for the grand Pran Pratishtha ceremony on January 22. “The attire for the consecration ceremony was a huge task for me. And more than the task, it was the high expectation of the people who would be seeing their deity after 500 years. I think it was Bhagwan Ram who showed me the way out and ideas began to flow into my mind,” said Tripathi, who along with his 15 workers, finished working on the wardrobe collection of the idol 30 days prior to the event.
Tripathi pointed out that the high expectations of the trust and the work of sculptor Arun Yogiraj, who built the idol of Ram Lalla, helped his team in creating ideas for the idol’s wardrobe collection. “Since Lord Ram is an avatar of Lord Vishnu and is known as Pitambar, hence, we chose Pitambari fabric. We got it specially made in Kashi. It’s not an ordinary fabric. We got it specially made from the weavers of Kashi. It is a handwoven cloth made with silk, silver and golden threads,” he added.
After finding the right fabric, Tripathi said the team got on to the design part. “We made sure that we design clothes for a five-year-old Lord Ram and not his idol. Hence, we made sure that the fabric remains soft and delicate and at the same time should look regal enough to meet the standards of Raja Dashrath’s son,” he added.
After referring to literature, history books, and old images of Gods and Goddesses, Tripathi said he decided to make the attire royal, with embroidery motifs of Vaishnava symbols including Padam (feet), Chakra (wheel), Shankha (conch), and Gada (hand combat weapon) in gold and silver, and the consecration outfit, including Dhoti, Angavastram, and Angapatuka, along with a handwoven Pashmina shawl.
Tripathi and his team spent 40 days preparing for the collection for Lord Ram and his three brothers, Lakshamana, Bharat and Shatrughana. “The red coloured attire meant for Tuesday, green for Wednesday, yellow for Thursday, green for Friday, blue for Saturday, and pink for Sunday and white for Monday,” he pointed out.
He said Lord Ram’s wardrobe too has been designed as per the needs. “It measures 21 inches in width and 51 inches in height. It is prepared from pure teak wood, covered with bright maroon coloured cloth and beautiful brass work on the door and handles of the wardrobe. The entire wardrobe has been divided into two compartments — for racking the attires and the matching jewellery,” he added.
Manish, who is working as a consultant with apparel sector skill council, Government of India and has also worked with India handloom though has promised the attires for initial 7 days but it has been 11 days since then and he continues to supply the attires for lord Ram. While calling his work a small attempt to show his love and respect to the deity in his own different way, he said, “The feeling while working for lord Ram himself could not be expressed in words. It was a divine force which showed us all the way out. It was all my small contribution to lord Ram. Jai Shri Ram,” he added.
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