Janakpur, November 16
Tilakdhars on Saturday started off for Ayodhya from Janaki Temple in Janakpur to extend the invitation carrying ritualistic gifts ahead of the Bibah Panchami.
The historic city of Janakpur in Nepal is all set to host the annual Bibah Panchami festival, commemorating the wedding of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita. This year's celebrations will feature a special Tilak Mahotsav ceremony, marking a significant spiritual event in the sacred city.
People offered all the required materials to prepare for the Tilak Mahotsav until Friday. For the first time, the Vivah Utsav will be preceded by the Tilakotsav, a ceremony symbolizing the formal acceptance of Lord Ram into the family of Goddess Sita.
Hundreds of Tilakdhars which also include the Chief Minister of Madhesh province, Satish Singh started off from the premises of Janaki Temple on Saturday which is expected to reach Ayodhya tomorrow.
Like in the past years, the ritualistic collective marriage ceremony will be solemnized this year also at the initiatives of the World Hindu Council. The state government of Madhesh province also would use the occasion to spread publicity for developing Janakpurdham as the city of religious tourism.
"This relation is not established by us; it has continued since Tretayuga. We should continue this relation and take it in long run, doing so this would further strengthen the relation of Roti-Beti which has continued since Tretayuga. If we look through the tourist point of view, everyday around 3,00,000 devotees visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on daily basis. If we will be able to bring about 10 per cent of those devotees, then 25,000- 30,000 will visit the Janaki Temple on daily basis," Satish Singh, Chief Minister of Madhesh Pradesh told ANI.
The Tilakdhars will make a night halt at Gadhimai of Bara. The team is expected to reach Ayodhya on November 17 and will be handing over the letter from the 'tilak' to Champat Raya.
The Tilakostav ceremony, slated for November 18, will be the first after the consecration of the Ram temple earlier this year. Following it the seers from Ayodhya will travel to Janakpur on November 26 for the 'marriage' of Lord Ram and Sita, which falls on December 9 this year.
Tilakostav is a religious ceremony that is organized before a wedding, wherein male members from the bride's family put Tilak and hand over gifts to the man who is slated to become the groom in the coming days.
The gifts which will be brought by the tilakhars include clothes, jewellery, sweets and dry fruits, among others. These will be presented to the Ram Lalla idol in several baskets.
"From here (Janakpur) about 500 of us are going to Ayodhya carrying 500 'Bhar'. The materials for the 'Bhar' are collected locally receiving the contribution from people which includes clothes, fruits, dry fruits and others," Santosh Kumar Sah, the President of World Hindu Council who led the collection campaign for 'Bhar' told ANI.
For the first time, 251 Tilakdhars (those performing the tilak ceremony) from Janakpur Dham, the in-laws place of Lord Ram will be sent to Ayodhya to perform the tilak, bringing 501 types of offerings.