Overview
- The installation at the Virat Ramayan Temple site in East Champaran took place on January 17–18 with thousands of devotees present and coordinated crowd management.
- The 33-foot structure, weighing about 200–210 metric tonnes, was carved over nearly a decade in Pattikadu near Mahabalipuram from a single black-granite block and bears 1,008 miniature lingams.
- Engineers used two heavy-lift cranes to place the monolith after a roughly 2,500 km road journey on a specially engineered 96-wheel trailer.
- Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited during his Samridhi Yatra alongside deputy chief ministers, as priests from Varanasi, Ayodhya and Haridwar led Vedic rituals and a helicopter showered flower petals.
- Organisers from the Mahavir Mandir Trust outline a 125-acre complex with 22 shrines, 18 spires and a 270-foot main tower, with a stated goal to boost religious tourism and finish by 2030.