RAM BARAT

TAJ CITY ALL GEARED UP AND EXCITED FOR THE DIVINE MARRIAGE PROCESSION

Agra October 5 (IANS)

All roads in Agra from today will lead to the city’s oldest colony Vijay Nagar, where the mythological Janakpuri has been created to solemnize the divine marriage of Sri Ram with Sita on Saturday.

The Janak Mahal has been modeled after the Vellore Math, while three other mammoth structures copy different historical buildings in India.

 “For the past one week massive repair and maintenance work has been going on in different parts to enable lakhs of people from all over to visit Janakpuri and pay obeisance  to the Hindu god Ram and his consort Sita,” Sudhier Gupta, a resident of the colony told IANS. MPs and MLAs have been descending here and the whole municipal corporation is engaged in beautification of the area, Sudhier Gupta added.

The Ram Barat will reach Janakpuri in the wee hours of Saturday, with full fanfare, dozens of brass bands, orchestras, camels, horses and grand regalia of sorts. The Agra Ram Lila Barat is the grandest in north India, started way back in 1880. Over a million people from neighbouring districts spend the night in Agra and cinema halls run extra shows for them. 

The Ram Barat continues to draw lakhs from the rural hinterland who crowd up the roadside, balconies, rooftops, as the mile long wedding procession headed by 15 brass bands and tableaux showing myriad Hindu gods and goddesses in all their splendour, meanders through the make believe kingdom of Raja Janak.

The baraat starts  from the Ramlila ground near the Agra Fort, projected as the kingdom of Awadh, to the so-called Janakpuri, capital of Raja Janak, father of goddess Sita, covering around 10 kilometres and consuming a whole night.  

The procession exhibiting mythological characters as well as scenes with social and political messages is the most spectacular show in Agra and involves the whole city.  



One of the organisers told IANS: "This year's Janakpuri has broken all records in scale and magnitude." 

The funds for Ram baraat is raised by locals. Corporate houses often make generous contributions. The municipal corporation ensures that the street lights, roads and other facilities used for the baraat are in good shape. People said the original Janakpuri would have faded into insignificance before what has been created by artistes engaged to create palaces, durbars, walkways and a central plaza.

Over years the focus has shifted to Janakpuri where a mela of sorts is held for three days during which all the rituals connected with the marriage ceremonies are performed. Each year the Janakpuri is built in a new locality or a colony which receives generous funds from the Nagar Nigam for development of roads and streamlinging of civic amenities in the area. The mela attracts lakhs of people who not only participate and watch the proceedings but also indulge in shopping from hundreds of stalls that come up at the site.