'Hanuman ji himself has come...' Here's what Temple Trust said about monkey entering Ram Mandir

Ayodhya Ram Mandir: A monkey entered the sanctum sanctorum on Tuesday evening and went near Lord Ram’s Utsav idol, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra said. More than five lakh devotees thronged to the Ram Temple as it opened its gates to the public for the first time. Take a look at the full post here.

A monkey visited Lord Ram's Utsav idol in the sanctum sanctorum of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday night in a "beautiful" episode, according to Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

The temple trust posted about the event on the microblogging platform X, stating that a monkey had entered the sanctum sanctorum through the southern entrance and approached the Utsav statue. When the security staff noticed this, they rushed to the monkey out of fear that it might drop the idol to the ground.

The post further read, “…As soon as the policemen ran towards the monkey, the monkey ran calmly towards the northern gate. Since the gate was closed, he moved towards the east and passing through the crowd, went out through the eastern gate without causing any trouble to anyone. The security personnel say that for us it is as if Hanuman ji himself has come to see Ramlala.”

This comes a day after the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony of the grand Ayodhya temple took place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat among other dignitaries. When the Ram Temple initially opened to the public, more than five lakh worshippers flocked there.

The Yogi Adityanath-led administration released a statement stating that the Ayodhya district magistrate has stationed magistrates at eight locations across the city to control the throng.

Director of Information Shishir stated in a statement that "five lakh devotees had a darshan of Ram Lalla today." The gathering appeared to go out of control many times, according to the state administration, but police officers and other authorities quickly took charge of the situation and organised lines of people for the darshan.