4 days ago
Philanthropist donates bow & arrow made of 1 kg gold, 14 kg silver to Lord Ram
Hyderabad: Challa Srinivasa Shastry, a philanthropist and adherent devotee of Lord Ram, has presented a bow and an arrow made of silver weighing 14 kg and gold of one kg to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which will be placed in the hands of Lord Raja Ram in the Ram Darbar consecrated recently.
Challa Srinivasa Shastry, a 65-year-old devotee from the Telugu speaking states, had worked as a Sound Engineer. Post retirement, he has devoted his life to seva of Lord Ram. He had come into limelight after he donated silver bricks to the Teerth Kshetra Trust which were eventually used in the foundation for the temple of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. 'I had prepared a silver brick and Padukas (sandals) and taken these to Ayodhya in the form of a Padayatra from Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. I followed the path of Lord Ram and presented the brick to the district collector. They contacted me and asked to prepare four more bricks so that they can be used in the foundation. I was fortunate that Modi garu laid the foundation with the five bricks weighing 2.5 kg each,' said Srinivasa Shastry. He said that he did this to fulfill the vow of his father, who had done Karseva during the Ram Janma Bhoomi agitation.
Srinivasa Shastry said that the bow and arrow was handed over to Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai. The district administration and the trust had assured Shastry that the bow and arrow would be placed in the hands of Lord Raja Ram in the Ram Darbar at the first floor of the temple in Ayodhya.
On June 5, the consecration of Ram Darbar was taken up in Ayodhya. In the Ram Darbar, the idols of Lord Ram along with Maa Sita were placed on a two-foot-high white marble throne. Along with them, idols of Lord Hanuman in a sitting form and Lakshman, Shatrughan were also placed in a standing position. All idols and the throne have been sculpted from white marble in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Srinivas Shastry along with his wife has been staying at Ayodhya doing seva since the temple was inaugurated. 'People from Telugu States were asking for Telugu cuisine, as our staple food (rice) is not widely available in Ayodhya. We started serving food along with donations from people and now about 500 to 1,000 people are savouring it every day for free,' said Shastry.
