Makeshift duty

Age: 37

Routine: This week,Premchand has been assigned to get the makeshift temple ready for devotees in the morning hours. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and reaches the temple at 5 a.m. After reaching the temple,Premchand says his morning prayers. Time then for the aarti at 7 a.m. At noon every day,the temple is closed and Premchand and the other pujaris take some time off before the evening aarti that begins at 2 p.m. and goes on till 6 p.m.

Premchand doesnt stop to catch his breath when he says with practiced monotony,Sabse upar Ram lalla. Niche unke charnon mein Bharatji,Laxmanji aur Shatrughanji. Dayen Laxmanji,bayen Shatrughanji aur beech mein Bharatji. Dono kinaron par Bhagwan Shaligram (Right at the top is Lord Ram. At his feet are Bharatji,Laxmanji and Shatrughanji. Bharat is in the centre,Laxman and Shatrughan are on either side). Premchand,37,repeats the line thousands of time a day to every visitor who turns up to offer prayers at the makeshift temple in Ayodhya.

This Wednesday,two days after the Supreme Court stayed the September 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment (that called for a three-way division of the disputed land) and declared status quo on the title of the disputed land,Premchand is on morning duty. The status quo meant that a priest can continue to conduct worship in the makeshift temple,a custom legitimised in the Ayodhya Act of January 7,1993.

There are three other priests at the makeshift temple,besides Premchand,and they all take turns to perform different duties. Premchand and the other three priests have been employed by Satyendra Das,the main priest at the temple.

This week,Premchand has been assigned to get the makeshift temple ready for devotees in the morning hours. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and gets ready to leave for work in the next 30 minutes. It takes him another 25 minutes to reach the makeshift temple from the Satyadham Gopal temple where he stays.

After reaching the makeshift temple,Premchand says his morning prayers,his hands folded reverentially as he stands before the statues. First,I wake up the Gods. After a ritual bath,I dress them up in special robes. There are different robes for different dayswhite on Mondays,red on Tuesdays,green on Wednesdays,yellow on Thursdays,light yellow on Fridays,blue on Saturdays and rose on Sundays, he says. All this takes up at least an hour,he says. Time then for the aarti at 7 a.m.

Premchand has to make sure he starts the aarti on time. Any delay would mean extra pressure on the security jawans who have to manage the crowd of devotees who start queuing up at the entrance of the makeshift temple from early morning. So,Premchand has to work fast,giving the para military forces enough time to frisk every visitor who enters the makeshift temple. According to the existing arrangement,only one visitor at a time can be allowed inside the makeshift temple to offer his prayers. Premchand offers prasad to every visitor and repeats his sabse upar Ram lalla line.

Every day,thousands of visitors from all over the country turn up at the makeshift temple. Premchand claims to have picked up a few words in Marathi and Telugu. He says he can now look at people and say which state they are from. Some visitors even ask me where the mosque stood. I answer all their questions, he says.

But it was on July 5,2005,that he had his brush with terror. That day,terrorists struck at the makeshift temple. I heard gunshots. I hid inside the makeshift temple for hours. Later,policemen came and informed me that the terrorists had been killed. Though the incident shook me up,I never wanted to leave the place, he says.

Premchand has been working here for 14 years,assisting 72-year-old Satyendra Das,the head priest. I met him in 1997. He was looking for a trusted person who could serve as a priest at the makeshift temple, he says. A native of Basti district,Premchand says he is a law graduate from Saket Degree College,Faizabad.

Satyendra Das pays Premchand Rs 3,200 a month for his services. I get Rs 48,300 a month from the government for performing pujas at the makeshift temple, Das says. Apart from four priests,Das employs a cook,a store keeper and a domestic help to run the rasoi (the temple kitchen).

Das gets driven around the city in a Scorpio,a perk he is evidently proud of. I have permission to take my vehicle right up to Manas temple,located in the prohibited zone. This facility is given only to VVIPs who come to offer prayers at the makeshift temple, he says.

Like the other priests,Das follows a routine,though somewhat less hectic. His main duty is to ensure that the junior priests stick to rules at the makeshift temple. I regularly visit the temple at 10 a.m. to check if the Gods have been decked up. Then I do the rounds of the kitchen and make sure all the ingredients for the bhog are in place, he says. At noon every day,the temple is closed. This is time for the Gods to take rest. Before this,the bhog rituals must be completed. In the afternoons,visitors are allowed to offer their prayers between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Thats when Premchand winds up and another priest takes his place,repeating his Sabse upar Ram lalla line.