On Thursday, two large shaligram stone slabs, from the Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh reached Ayodhya, where they may be used to create an idol of Lord Ram for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.
Transported from the Kali Gandaki waterfall in Nepal, the stones can now be found in Ayodhya at the Ram sevak puram (the temple’s storage area for building supplies). Read more
In preparation for the construction of the Ram and Janaki idols that will be installed in the main temple complex of the Ram temple in Ayodha, which is still under construction, Nepal had sent two Shaligram stones.
The Shaligrams can only be found on the banks of the Kali Gandaki River, run through the Myagdi and Mustang districts, and are already travelling to Ayodhya via Janakpurto. Upon arrival, Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra will construct idols of Lord Ram and Sita.
The Janaki temple was working with the Nepali Congress leader and former deputy prime minister Bimalendra Nidhi, who is from Janakpur, the city where Sita was born, to provide the two stones from the Kali Gandaki River, where Shaligrams are common.
So What are Shaligrams?
A shaligram, also known as a shaligrama shila, is a specific type of stone that is mined from the Kali Gandaki, a tributary of the Gandaki River in Nepal, and is used by Hindus as a non-anthropomorphic image of God Vishnu.
Typically, these are ammonite shell fossils from the Devonian-Cretaceous period, which lasted between 400 and 66 million years ago. Hindus revere the fossils as holy because Madhvacharya got them from Astamurti, also known as Vyasadeva, and because they resemble Vishnu emblems, particularly the Shankha (conch shell).
“Stones found in the Kaligandki River are well known and very precious in the world. It is widely accepted that these stones are symbols of Lord Vishnu. Lord Ram is the incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu which is why the stone from Kali Gandaki River, if available, would be very good to make Ram Lala’s murti (Idol) in Ayodhya for Ram Janma Bhumi Temple. It was requested by Champat Rai- the General Secretary of the Trust (Ram Janma Bhoomi Teertha Kshetra) and I was very much active and interested in this, ” Nidhi told ANI.
History Traced
According to reports, through the writings of Adi Shankara, it is possible to date the use of shaligrama shilas in devotion back to that era. He specifically suggests that the usage of shaligrama shila in the worship of Vishnu has been a well-known Hindu practise in his commentary to the verses 1.6.1 of the Taittiriya Upanishad and 1.3.14 of the Brahma Sutras. Additionally, a sizable number of fake shaligrama shilas are still in use.
It is also thought that the statues of Krishna in Krishna Matha of Udupi and Radha Raman Temple of Vrindavana were constructed from shaligrama shilas, as were the statues of Vishnu in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple of Thiruvananthapuram and the Badrinath Temple in the Garhwal region.
What Does Hindu Mythology Say About Shaligram Shilas?
The following series of events, according to the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana, and Shiva Purana, caused the emergence of ‘shilagrama shilas’.
Due to the fact that Vrishadhvaja the king refused to worship any god but Shiva, Surya cursed him to live in poverty. His descendants Dharmadhvaja and Kusadhvaja undertook austerities to please the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, in order to restore their lost prosperity.
She gave them prosperity and the blessing of having her born as one of their daughters since she was pleased with their frugality. As a result, Lakshmi took the form of Vedavati, a child of Kusadhvaja and Tulasi, a child of Dharmadhvaja. Tulasi travelled to Badarikashrama to carry out penance in an effort to marry Vishnu, but Brahma informed her that she would not be able to do so in this life and that she would instead have to wed the Danava Shankhachuda.
Shankhachuda was Sudama, a servant of Krishna, a manifestation of Vishnu who resided in Goloka, in his previous life. Radha cursed him to be born as a danava because he had been fashioned from his own body. Shankhachuda was hence virtuous, pious, and loyal to Vishnu by nature. On Brahma’s instruction, he wed Tulasi in accordance with the Gandharva marital customs. Following his marriage, Shankhachuda led the danavas in a war against their natural foes, the devas, whom they triumphed over thanks to Shankhachuda’s righteousness. The conquering danavas subsequently drove the devas from Svarga.
Dejected and beaten, the devas turned to Vishnu, who informed them that Shiva would eventually kill Shankhachuda. Shiva, his followers, and the devas engaged in combat with the danavas, who were led by Shankhachuda, at the devas’ request. But no side was strong enough to overcome the other. An unidentified voice informed Shiva that, according to a blessing from Brahma, Shankhachuda was impervious to harm while wearing his armour and his wife’s chastity was preserved.
As a result, Vishnu requested Shankhachuda for his armour while pleading for alms while taking the shape of an elderly Brahmin. He received Shankhachuda’s armour as a gift. While Shiva and Vishnu were engaged in combat, Shankhachuda’s armoured form of Vishnu took on the role of Shankhachuda and he lived with Tulasi. As a result, Shiva’s trishula killed Shankhachuda and Tulasi’s chastity was shattered, freeing Sudama from the curse.
Tulasi began to suspect that the man who was with her at the time of Shankhachuda’s death was not Shankhachuda. When she realised that Vishnu was the one who had duped her, she cursed him to turn into a stone since she felt that he had acted coldly and without feeling when he killed Shankhachuda and stole her chastity while she was also his devotee. Tulasi was comforted by Vishnu, who explained that it was the outcome of the penances she had made in the past to win his love and that, once her body was cast off, she would once more become his wife.
As a result, Lakshmi shed Tulasi’s body and took on a new appearance (which became known by the name of Tulasi). The Gandaki river was created from Tulasi’s abandoned body, while the tulasi bush appeared from her hair. As a result of Tulasi’s curse, Vishnu took the shape of the shaligrama mountain, a sizable rocky mountain by the Gandaki River, where vajrakita, a species of worm with teeth as powerful as the vajra, cut out numerous patterns on his body. The shaligrama shilas are said to be the stones chiselled by Vajrakita that tumble from the summit of that mountain into the Gandaki river.
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