The Architect Family Behind Construction of Ram Mandir, Ayodhya

After a long struggle of about 500 years, the foundation stone of the Ram temple was finally laid through the Bhumi Poojan ceremony at Ayodhya. The more thrilling and painful it is, the longer the history of the Ram temple. We all know a little bit about that. But in this article, we are going to know about the architect of the Ram Mandir of Ayodhya, who designed this wonderful Ram Temple behind the spot light. India is very fortunate and proud of an extraordinary family of architects that has been building temples for 200 years. This family comes from Palitana, in Gujarat, and architecture is a family tradition, also building extraordinary temples, not only here in India, but abroad too. Among these temples include, the Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura, the Somnath Temple that was reconstructed in 1951 and the Akshardham Temples, among others. On Wednesday, 5th August, PM Modi did perform the Bhoomi Pujan event at the future site of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. This Ram Mandir architecture is being built by 77 year old architect Chandrakant Sompura.

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August 5th, 77 years old Mr. Chandrakant Somapura watched PM Modi perform the ceremony via TV, not attending personally due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Instead Mr. Sompura's 49 year old son, Ashish, attended the ceremony.  The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple blueprints and plans had been prepared by Ashish, and given to Larsen & Toubro, the construction company. Mr Sonoura mentioned no other project had taken so long, usually it takes 2 to 3 years.  

Somnath to Ayodhya - The ancestor of Viswakarma?

This accomplished family of architects have an illustrious and impressive ancestry. Their tradition of being architects and builders of amazing temples comes directly from the divine architect Vishwakarma. One of their ancestors Ramji, was the builder of the Jain Temple Complex on the Shetrunjay Hills of their hometown, Palitana, after a sugar merchant from Mumbai, asked Ramji to build a temple that this merchant named after himself, the main dwar Ram pol. He did not go to any formal architectural academy, having learned it from his grandfather and family, and from the shastras. The younger descendants of this illustrious family, they have degrees in architecture, and engineering, and keep their builder temple tradition up to today, and perhaps for the future too. This family great grandfather Prabhashankar, the Somnath Temple builder in Prabhas Patan, on the Gujarat Coast, and on a straight line to Antarctica, without touching any land, a straight line over the ocean, this is quite an accomplishment too. The first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, inaugurated this temple back in 1951. Prabhashankar, later was awarded the Padma Shri Honor.  The Sompuras, coming from the town of Palitana in Bhavnagar, consider themselves to be ‘Chandrabangshi’, or 'residents of the Moon' (Som = Moon and Pura = City).

Most Longer Project

The plans for building the Ram Lalla Temple in Ayodhya, began when Mr. Chandrakant Somopura was standing on the exact place where the Ram Lalla temple is going to be constructed thirty years ago. After first visiting the site with then Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal. Ghanshyamdas Birla, an industrialist, asked Mr. Sompura, if he would like to take this amazing project, the building of the Ram Mandir Project. Sompura then had served on some of the Birla temples. After agreeing, the architect was introduced to Mr. Singhal. Finally the plans had been approved for the building of this Temple by the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

From the time Sompura first entered the garbha griha at the site in Ayodhya, measuring it with his footsteps, as he was not permitted to bring any instruments, the site was out of bounds — and the architects were prevented from designing plans for future temple. In those days, Sompura would render the primary pencil sketch, and experts would do the inking on tracing paper.Just as Sompura himself had supported his grandfather Prabhashankar in the construction of the Somnath temple and the Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura, around 1993, Ashish also joined his father.

The Final Model

Somapura drawn up two or three plan for the temple at that time. Among which one was approved by VHP. A wooden model was made, following the temple plan. Later, during the Kumbh Mela, when all the sadhu assembled, the wooden model is presented, and the model is finally approved by the sadhus as the Ram Temple. It was around five years ago the last time Sompura traveled to Ayodhya himself. His sons Nikhil, 55, and Ashish took care of the project's execution, and Ashutosh, 28, Nikhil's civil engineer son, joined them after two years of training in temple architecture through site visits and home schooling.

The Temple Science 

This exact location, where the temple is going to be built, is believed to be the birth place of Lord Ram. And before Mughal era, there was an ancient Ram Temple which was considered to be holy place and pilgrimage for the Hindu society. This temple is being built based on the Nagar ‘shaili’. According to this temple architectural style the temple tower will be built over the sanctum sanctorum. This temple will be much bigger than originally planned.

According to the report of Indian Express,

‘In the new model three more spires have been added, in front and at the both sides, to extend the gudh mandap (the covered porch); the number of columns has gone up from around 160 in the original plan to 366 (160 on the ground floor, 132 on first floor, 74 on second floor); the width of the stairway to the ‘Ram Darbar’ on the first floor has been expanded from 6 feet to 16 feet. The height of the temple has been increased from 141 feet to 161 feet, its width from 160 feet to 235 feet, and its length from 280 feet to 360 feet.

Temple Layout Presented By Times Now

The expansion was made because the government wanted space for “more people”, says Ashish. As per the plan, each column will have 16 idols, which will include the ‘Dashavataras’, the ‘chausath joginis’, all the incarnations of Shiva, and the 12 incarnations of the Goddess Saraswati.

The unique feature of the Ram Mandir will be the octagonal shape of the sanctum sanctorum, in keeping with the design provided in the shastras for a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

The Ram temple, will be on a raised platform, and will have the four features of a typical Hindu temple: the ‘chauki’ (verandah), ‘nritya mandap’ (semi covered porch), ‘gudh mandap’ (covered porch), and ‘garbha griha’ (sanctum sanctorum), aligned on a single axis. The original would have used up to 3 lakh cubic feet of sandstone; an additional 3 lakh cubic feet will now be needed, which will be mined at Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan.

The Sompuras had initially estimated the construction to be completed in three and a half years, but the pandemic could push it back by another 6-8 months. The VHP had commissioned the building of the temple to three contractors, who have now been replaced by L&T.