As the date for inauguration of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir approaches, a timber firm in Hyderabad is working at a frenetic pace to provide 100 doors for the temple.
Ch Sarath Babu, managing partner of Anuradha Timbers International, has been shuttling between Ayodhya and Hyderabad since June to ensure timely delivery.
Speaking to News18, he said: “We are using teak wood which is known to last for 3,000 years. No doubt, we have to select the best wood for such projects. After we landed the contract, we chose trees of superlative quality from Balharshah forest in Maharashtra. The average age of the trees is 100 years and they had no visible defects. We made sure there were no cracks, knots or sap wood. These trees again underwent a rigorous process of selection and only 20% of the wood collected from them was chosen to be used for the inner premises of the temple. Teak wood is immune to the effects of weather and termites.”
Sarath’s family has been in the business for three generations. Explaining how the firm received the contract, the expert said that Ayodhya Temple Trust, along with Larsen and Toubro and Tata Consultancy Services, had asked companies to make a wooden model of the temple three years ago. Sarath and his team of wood carvers delivered the best one, and that is how they got to make the doors of the temple. They set up their workshop at Ayodhya in June and work is almost complete in a record time of six months. “The wooden model was kept at Darshan Marg to give a glimpse of how the new temple would look,” he said.
Sarath is working with Kumaraswamy Ramesh and team, the seasoned wood carvers from Kanyakumari. They are behind the intricately designed doors of many famous temples in India, including Yadadri temple on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The doors were designed in the Nagari style by Sompura, who is the master architect for the temple. Kumaraswamy’s team has replicated the designs to the T, all with hand.
The ornate doors have signages of elephants, peacocks and various Gods. The door of the Garbhagriha has a peacock carving. It is a foldable door, which is 8 feet in height and 12 feet in width. The firm has made various types of doors, including dome and percota (outer perimeter) ones. All doors inside the temple are gold-plated, which includes 18 doors on the ground floor.
Sarath explained that each door has to be fitted and removed at least four times for various steps. “The doors have to undergo dry fitting, copper plating and gold plating. If we consider the time taken for these steps, our team delivered the doors in three months.”
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