Kalaram Mandir

• Prime Minister recently visited the Kalaram Mandir on the banks of the Godavari in the Panchavati area of Nashik.

ABOUT THE TEMPLE

• The Kalaram temple derives its name from a black statue of the Lord — Kala Ram translates literally to “Black Ram”.
• The sanctum sanctorum has statues of Ram, Sita, and Lakshman, and a black idol of Hanuman at the main entrance.
• The temple was built in 1792 with the efforts of one Sardar Rangarao Odhekar.
• It is said that Sardar Odhekar dreamt of a black-coloured statue of Lord Ram in the Godavari, and recovered the statues from the river and built the temple.
• The place where statues were found was named
• The main temple has 14 steps, which represent the 14 years of Lord Ram’s exile.
• It has 84 pillars, which represents the cycle of 84 lakh species that one has to complete in order to be born as a human.

IMPORTANCE OF PANCHVATI

• Panchavati has a special place in the Ramayana and, therefore, in the Hindu religion.
• Ram, along with Sita and Lakshman, spent the first few years of their 14-year exile in Dandakaranya, the dense forest in central India of which Panchavati was a part.
• The name Panchavati comes from the existence of five banyan trees in the area.
• According to the epic, Lord Ram, Sita, and Lakshman set up a hut here as the presence of five banyan trees made this region auspicious.
• It is from the Panchavati region that Ravan, the demon king of Lanka, abducted Sita after drawing her out of the secure zone created by Lakshman by deceit, and set off the chain of events that led to Ram’s journey southward to Lanka, and the Ramayana war.

MODERN HISTORY

• In 1930, B R Ambedkar and the Marathi teacher and social activist Pandurang Sadashiv Sane, known as Sane Guruji, led an agitation to demand access for Dalits to Hindu temples.
• The satyagraha at the Kalaram temple continued until