The New Indian Express ·
Beyond Ram temple, Ayodhya's boom tells another story
AYODHYA: The Saryu River is in a restless mood. Swollen waters press against the steps of Guptar Ghat, the river running high after relentless monsoon rains in the hills upstream and the release of hundreds of thousands of cusecs of water from Nepal's barrages. Yet Sarayu remains within its banks, surging past the stone steps and ghats of Ayodhya.
Guptar Ghat is revered in Hindu tradition as the place where Lord Ram entered the Saryu for his Jal Samadhi. Just a few kilometres away, another sacred landmark, the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, is drawing an extraordinary stream of humanity. On an ordinary weekday, tens of thousands of pilgrims make their way to the temple; on festival days, the numbers can run into lakhs.
But here, beside the restless river, Ayodhya's much-celebrated pilgrimage boom is being counted differently. Photographer Kapil Yadav, who has worked here for three years, says he now takes around 100 photographs a day, compared with 200-300 earlier.
