Overview
- Ayodhya’s Surya Tilak, which temple officials executed Friday during the Abhijit Muhurat, directed a focused beam through mirrors and lenses onto Ram Lalla’s forehead for about nine minutes and aired live on Doordarshan.
- Authorities said about 10 lakh devotees visited the Ram Janmabhoomi complex, with big screens set up across the city, brief door closures for offerings, and heavy police deployment to manage the flow.
- The Navami Tithi ran from late Thursday morning to Friday morning, so many places marked the festival on March 26 while Ayodhya held its main rites on March 27, with Parliament closed Thursday and RBI-listed bank holidays split across the two days as Uttar Pradesh extended its holiday to Friday.
- Across India, cities reported shobha yatras, prayers and community meals under tightened security, with reports highlighting gestures of harmony such as Muslims joining Hindus at Srinagar’s Raghunath Mandir for its first Ram Navami puja in 36 years.
- Mumbai added modern spectacle with a planned 2,000‑drone show at Azad Maidan on March 26–27, while engineers in Ayodhya used a system reported to include four lenses, four mirrors and metal pipes to guide sunlight from about 65 feet for the Surya Tilak.