A historic moment came with the consecration of the idol of Ramlala in Ayodhya. The idol of Ramlala is 51 inches tall and is made of special black granite brought from Karnataka. This stone is 2.5 billion years old.
New Delhi: HS Venkatesh, director of the National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM), Bengaluru, has confirmed that the stone is 2.5 billion years old. NIRM is the nodal agency for testing rocks for Indian dams and nuclear power plants.
“The rock is highly durable and resistant to climate change. It will last for thousands of years in this subtropical region with minimal maintenance,” says Dr. Venkatesh.
Most granite rocks formed when molten lava cooled after the Earth formed. Granite is an extremely hard material.
Union Science Minister Jitendra Singh says the Ram temple has been constructed using traditional architectural design and the highest quality stones. Modern science and engineering techniques have also been incorporated into the temple to make it sustainable. He added, “It is designed to last for more than 1,000 years.”
The stone was selected from Jayapura Hobli village in Mysore district, which is known for high-quality granite quarries.
This rock belongs to the pre-Cambrian era, which is believed to have begun more than four billion years ago. It is estimated that the Earth originated about 4.5 billion years ago. The black granite rock from which the statue of Ram Lalla is made has seen at least half or more of the earth’s history.
Early humans appeared on Earth about 14 million years ago and humans as we see them today – the Homo sapiens species – are only 300,000 years old. Scientists estimate that life on Earth originated about 4 billion years ago.
With the consecration of the idol of Ramlala, Ayodhya has entered a new era. The idol of Ramlala is made of 2.5 billion years old black granite, which gives this idol a historical and religious significance.
