The ‘Kinnar’ community in Bareilly has said they will not insist on taking the customary gifts and money from parents for blessing the children born on January 22, the day of the ‘pran pratishtha‘ (consecration ceremony) at the Ram Temple.
“We will visit the houses of the families whose children are born on the day of ‘pran pratishtha’ at the temple and sing congratulatory songs,” Sharda, a member of the community, said.
“We will not ask for ‘neg’ (money or gifts) from these families for blessing their newborns, but gladly accept whatever they offer us,” they said.
Sharda, who pays the school fees of five children from underprivileged families every year, said they were sending five lamps to every house in the area so that everybody could light the lamps in their homes on January 22.
“We are very fortunate to have the darshan of Ram Temple in our life. In the struggle that lasted about 500 years, many people passed away with an unfulfilled desire to see the temple of Lord Ram,” Sharda said.
They said when Lord Ram was going to exile, everybody in Awadh started following him, but then, on his request, everyone except the Kinnars returned to Ayodhya.
“They sang hymns in praise of Lord Ram and worshipped him for 14 years near the Tamsa river. When he returned to his kingdom, he was happy to see their devotion towards him and he gave them a ‘vardaan’ (boon) that if the Kinnars blessed the newborns by singing congratulatory songs, then the children would prosper in life,” Sharda said.
“Today it is by the grace of Lord Ram that we give blessings to children. After January 22, we will go to Ayodhya to have darshan of ‘Ram Lalla’,” Sharda said.
Naina Devi said that they will visit Ayodhya after the “pran pratishtha’ and also give gifts to the children born on January 22.
“If nothing else, we will at least give a marigold flower,” they said.
Saraswati Devi said that they will even bless children from poor families. “We have set a target of distributing 1,000 lamps free of cost from door to door.”
Another member of the community, Gauri said that they, along with some friends, will sing the devotional songs of Lord Ram on the trains on January 22, and will invite every passenger to go to Ayodhya after the consecration ceremony.
Standing at Bareilly Junction, Shweta said her team would give 50 kilograms of marigold flowers, as an invitation to the passengers on the train for a week.