Ram Mandir, Ayodhya

Ayodhya is the traditional birthplace of Lord Rama and the setting of much of the Ramayana. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple was consecrated (Pran Pratishtha) on 22 January 2024 after a multi-decade legal and political process around the disputed Babri Masjid site, which the Supreme Court of India ruled in 2019 should be the site of a temple. The new temple, designed by the Sompura family of architects, is built in the Nagara style of North Indian temple architecture using pink Bansi Paharpur sandstone. When complete (the Phase 2 construction is ongoing), the temple will have three storeys, five mandapas, and 392 carved pillars. The presiding deity is the 'Ram Lalla' — Rama as a child — installed in the Garbha Griha. Ayodhya itself sits on the banks of the Saryu river and contains many other Ramayana-associated sites: the Hanuman Garhi temple, the Kanak Bhavan, the Treta-ke-Thakur temple, and the daily Saryu aarti at Ram Ki Paidi. Diwali in Ayodhya — when the city floats hundreds of thousands of diyas on the river — has been Guinness-recorded multiple times.