Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Ayodhya

Seven free darshan slots across the day, with an hour at midday that has no slot, and three aartis outside them that are entered by pass.

The temple stands on the former site of the Babri Masjid, a mosque built in 1528 by Mir Baqi, a Mughal commander, on Babur's orders. Many Hindus identify the site as Ram Janmabhoomi, the birthplace of Rama. The first documented religious violence over it came in 1853, and in 1859 the British fenced off the site so that Muslims used the inner court and Hindus the outer one. On the night of 22 to 23 December 1949 idols of Rama and Sita were placed inside the fenced mosque area, and the state took control of the building the following year.

In the 1980s the Vishwa Hindu Parishad launched a campaign to claim the site for a temple to the infant Rama, and a foundation stone was laid beside the disputed land on 9 November 1989. On 6 December 1992 a rally of some 150,000 volunteers organised by the VHP and the BJP tore down the mosque, setting off months of communal violence in which an estimated 2,000 people died in Bombay alone.

In 2019 the Supreme Court awarded the disputed land to a trust to be formed by the Government of India for a temple, and gave Muslims land elsewhere for a mosque. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra was formed in February 2020, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the bhoomi pujan in August 2020. Ram Lalla's consecration took place on 22 January 2024, the Ram Darbar on the first floor was consecrated on 5 June 2025, and construction was formally marked complete on 25 November 2025 with the hoisting of the Dharma Dhwaja flag on the spire.

Deity

Ram Lalla, the infant Rama

Consecrated

22 January 2024

Architecture

Nagara style, by the Sompura family

Size

360 ft long, 235 ft wide, 161 ft high

Columns

160 ground, 132 first, 74 second floor

Stone

Baansi sandstone, no iron or steel

Why Ram Mandir Ayodhya matters to Hindus

Rama is a principal Hindu deity, regarded as a complete avatar of Vishnu and as the ideal man and the embodiment of dharma. The Ramayana places his birth in Ayodhya on the banks of the Sarayu, and many Hindus believe this temple stands on that exact spot. For that reason the presiding deity is Rama as an infant, Ram Lalla, the name Tulsidas used for the child Rama.

A new image of Ram Lalla was installed in the sanctum as the main deity in 2024, and the Trust has said the Ram Lalla Virajman idol placed at the site in 1949 will now serve as the festival idol. On Ram Navami in 2024, the first after the consecration, the forehead of the idol was anointed at noon with a ray of sunlight, an event known as Surya Tilak.

More facts about Ram Mandir

Deity

Ram Lalla, the infant form of Rama

Where

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh

Administered by

Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra

Consecrated

22 January 2024

Architecture

Maru-Gurjara architecture of the Nagara style, originally designed by the Sompura family of Ahmedabad

Main temple

360 feet long, 235 feet wide, 161 feet high including the peak, three floors

Temple area

2.7 acres, built-up area 57,400 sq. ft., 12 gates

Also known as

Ram Mandir Ayodhya, Ayodhya Ram Temple, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Ram Lalla temple

The Trust's own guidance on what to carry and how passes work. The advice on phones and offerings comes from a notice it posted in March 2024; the pass fee rule is on its site today.

Ayodhya has a humid subtropical climate. Summers are long, dry and hot from late March to mid-June, with average daily temperatures near 32 °C, and the monsoon follows until October. Winter runs from early November to the end of January with average temperatures near 16 °C and colder nights, followed by a short spring in February and early March. Winter and spring are the mildest months for standing in a darshan queue outdoors.

Special days change the temple's routine. The first Ram Navami after the consecration, in 2024, brought the noon Surya Tilak, and the Trust has altered its schedule before, closing the temple for a lunar eclipse on 7 September 2025 and reopening at the next morning's Mangal Aarti. Check the Trust's site and its X account close to any festival or eclipse date.

Within the day, the Trust publishes free darshan slots from 07:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 21:00, and all passes are free, so the choice of slot comes down to your travel plans and availability on the booking portal.

Tips before you go

• Book your free darshan or aarti pass on the Trust's own portal; the Trust authorises no agents and charges no fee.
• Read the instructions printed on your pass carefully before you arrive, as the Trust asks.
• Leave mobile phones, footwear and purses outside the temple premises, which the Trust says saves time.
• Do not bring flowers, garlands or prasad; the Trust has asked devotees not to.
• Treat anyone offering darshan for money as a possible fraud; the Trust sells no paid darshan.
• Wheelchairs are available free inside the premises for elderly and differently-abled devotees, though the person pushing is to be paid.

The main temple was consecrated in January 2024, but the complex around it has kept opening in stages.

The main temple

The Trust gives the main temple as 360 feet long, 235 feet wide and 161 feet high including the peak, on three floors of 20 feet each, with 12 gates and 160 columns on the ground floor alone.

Ram Lalla's consecration, the prana pratishtha, took place on 22 January 2024. Construction was formally marked complete on 25 November 2025 with the hoisting of a flag on the temple's peak.

The rest of the premises

On Monday 13 April 2026 the Trust announced that darshan had begun at all temples and mandaps within the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi premises, with devotees admitted in regulated numbers through a pass system.

The Trust lists Ayodhya Junction and Faizabad Junction as the railway stations, Gorakhpur airport at 118 km and Lucknow's Amausi airport at 125 km, and Uttar Pradesh transport buses running 24 hours a day.