The Ayodhya Ram Mandir (ISO: Rāma Maṁdira, literally 'Rama Temple') is a Hindu temple complex situated in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The temple is dedicated to Rama, regarded in Hindu tradition as a principal deity and an avatar of Vishnu. Many adherents of Hinduism believe that the site corresponds to the Ram Janmabhoomi, the traditionally venerated birthplace of Rama as described in textual and devotional traditions associated with the Ramayana.
The temple was inaugurated on 22 January 2024 following a religious ceremony during which Hindu priests performed the prāṇa pratiṣṭhā (consecration) rituals for the deity. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, served as the Mukhya Yajamāna (chief patron) for the consecration event. The construction of the temple complex was reported to be completed on 25 November 2025, marked by the hoisting of the Dharma Dhwaja, a sacred flag.
The site on which the Ram Mandir stands has a long and contested history that has been the subject of communal tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities in India. According to available source material, the location was formerly occupied by the Babri Masjid, a mosque generally dated to around 1529. From the 1850s onwards, a fence was erected at the site and Hindus were permitted to worship in the outer courtyard, while the inner area continued to be associated with the mosque structure.
In 1949, a murti (sacred image) of Rama was placed inside the fenced precinct, an event which intensified the disputed status of the location. The dispute remained a significant issue in Indian public life through subsequent decades. During the 1980s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) launched a campaign to claim the site for the construction of a temple dedicated to Rama. This campaign formed part of a broader public movement, and the existing structure at the site was attacked and demolished in 1992.
The legal proceedings concerning the title to the land continued for several decades and culminated in a verdict by the Supreme Court of India in 2019. The court awarded the disputed land to the Hindu side for the construction of a temple, while directing that an alternative parcel of land be allotted to the Muslim side at Dhannipur in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque. In its reasoning, the court referred to a report by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which was cited as evidence suggesting the presence of a non-Islamic structure beneath the demolished Babri Masjid.
Following the Supreme Court verdict, preparatory work for the construction of the temple began. The bhūmi pūjana (ground-breaking ceremony) was performed on 5 August 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking the formal commencement of construction at the site. Construction proceeded over the subsequent years and culminated in the consecration ceremony of 22 January 2024.
The prāṇa pratiṣṭhā ceremony is a traditional Hindu rite through which a sacred image is ritually invested with the presence of the deity it represents. In the case of the Ram Mandir, the rituals were conducted by Hindu priests according to established temple-consecration practices. The role of Mukhya Yajamāna, undertaken on this occasion by the Prime Minister, traditionally signifies the chief sponsoring participant in the ritual sequence.
According to the source notes, on the first day of public opening following the consecration, the temple is reported to have received a rush of over half a million visitors. After approximately one month from the inauguration, the daily visitor count was reported to be around 100,000. The construction of the temple complex reached completion on 25 November 2025, an occasion marked by the hoisting of the Dharma Dhwaja (sacred flag) atop the structure.
For many devotees within the Hindu tradition, the Ram Mandir holds religious significance as a place of worship at a location associated with the birth of Rama. Rama features prominently in Hindu scriptural and literary traditions, including the Sanskrit epic Ramayana attributed to Valmiki and the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas, as well as in regional retellings across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The temple thereby functions as a focus of pilgrimage and devotional activity within these traditions.
The site has also been a focal point in the modern political and legal history of India, on account of the prolonged dispute concerning its ownership and the events surrounding the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. The 2019 Supreme Court verdict represented the judicial conclusion of the title suit and shaped the framework within which the present temple was constructed, alongside the allocation of separate land for the construction of a mosque at Dhannipur.
The visitor numbers reported in the period following inauguration indicate that the complex has emerged as a major site of pilgrimage in Uttar Pradesh, with associated implications for civic infrastructure, tourism and the local economy of Ayodhya. The completion event of 25 November 2025, accompanied by the flag-hoisting ceremony, marked the formal conclusion of the construction phase of the project.
This draft is intended for review and rewriting by human editors prior to any publication. The following points are flagged for editorial attention: