Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma receive invites for Ayodhya Ram Mandir 'pran pratishtha'

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma recieved the invites for the Ayodhya Ram Mandir ceremony. (Image credit: X)

Cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma received invitation for the Ram temple consecration ceremony that will be held next week. Kohli and Sharma were seen receiving the invites at their home.

The power couple received the invitation a week after Bollywood couple Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor received similar invites for the Ayodhya Ram temple ceremony. Other cricket icons who were invited for the ceremony include Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

The run-up to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony began on Tuesday with a series of rituals, led by a member of the temple trust and his wife.

These rituals will reach their finale with the consecration, or “pran pratishtha”, of the idol of Ram Lalla at the new temple in Ayodhya.

"The ‘anushthan’ has started and will continue till January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony. Eleven priests are performing the rituals invoking all goddesses and gods," Ram temple chief priest Satyendra Das said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among those attending the ceremony.

PM Modi is scheduled to deliver a speech at the end of the consecration ceremony, expected to be attended by 8,000 guests.

The Ayodhya Ram Mandir "pran pratishtha" will begin at 12.20 pm on January 22 and is expected to end by 1 pm, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai told reporters on Monday.

Settling a fractious issue that goes back more than a century, the Supreme Court in 2019 backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.

Prime Minister Modi performed the “bhoomi pujan” of the temple in August 2020, bringing to fruition the BJP's “mandir” movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power.