Scientists ready to create ‘Surya Tilak’ on Ram Lalla’s forehead

 Berhampur: The scientists have finalised the preparations for the much-awaited ‘Surya Tilak’ on the forehead of the idol of Ram Lalla within the newly-constructed Ram temple sanctum sanctorum in Ayodhya on Ram Navami on Wednesday.

The detailed complete design to bring the sunlight to the ‘Garbha Griha’ was developed by Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, with Indian Institute of Astrophysics providing consultancy for the optical design.

The fabrication of optical elements, pipes, tilt mechanism and other related components were carried out by Optics & Allied Engineering Private Limited (Optica), a Bangalore-based company.

The system ensures the appearance of a circular ‘Surya Tilak’, measuring 55 mm to 60 mm on the forehead of the idol in the sanctum sanctorum using sunlight, mirrors and lenses. The project work would last for five minutes from 11.58 am to 12.03 pm on April 17.

The basic objective of ‘Surya Tilak’ Project is to focus a ‘tilak’ on the forehead of Shree Ram idol on every Shree Ram Navami day.

Before implementing the opto-mechanical system in Ram Mandir for ‘Surya Tilak’ on the forehead of the idol, a scaled down model suitable for Roorkee locality has been successfully validated and the full-scale model has been successfully validated at Optica site at Bangalore in March.

The CBRI, Roorkee team along with IIA Bangalore and Optica Bangalore had completed the installation in the first week of April and repeated trials were done.

The final trial using sun rays was successfully done on April 8 at 12 noon.

Interestingly, Saroj Kumar Panigrahi, the system’s chief scientist and principal investigator, is a native of Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district.

He completed B Tech from Burla and M Tech from REC Rourkela after completing his school studies in Maharaja’s Boys High School Paralakhemundi in 1987 and Plus Two Science in SKCG College, Paralakhemundi.

The system is manually operated, reflecting a harmonious blend of human touch and scientific precision and has been installed on the temple’s third floor.

The optomechanical system, installed on the temple’s third floor, incorporates high-quality mirrors (M1 and M2), a lens (L1), and vertical piping with lenses (L2 and L3) fixed at specific angles.

Ground floor components include mirrors (M3 & M4) and a lens (L4). Sunlight falls on M1, travels through L1, M2, L1, L2, M3 (installed outside the ‘garbha griha’), and finally on M4, bringing a ‘tilak’ on the forehead of the idol, sources said.