By IANS
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a special research fellowship to retrace Ram Path –Hindu god Ram’s route through the state when the Ramayana hero was in exile.
The move follows an exhibition during the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive meet here to show the places in the state through which Lord Ram passed, according to the Ramayana.
Chouhan told a gathering of his ministerial colleagues and bureaucrats on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti Tuesday that his Government has decided to retrace and revive the mythological route taken by Lord Ram while on exile.
“The government also plans to constitute a committee, comprising historians and archaeologists, to underline the Ram Path,” Chouhan said, adding that a team of experts has already started working for the exploration and revival of mythological sites and places along the probable route in Chitrakoot, Satna, Sanghwad and Jabalpur.
Chouhan said his government had accepted the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s challenge of proving the sequence of mythological events of the Ramayana, and accordingly decided to retrace the Ram Path.
He said after proper exploration, his government also plans to develop this mythological route for religious tourism.
Chouhan added that an international Ramayana fair would henceforth be organised in the state and steps would be initiated for the development of all holy places including Ram Charan area of Vidisha district that Lord Ram passed through during his exile.
He added that Kamadgiri, including Ram Van of Satna district — where the Ramayana says Lord Ram spent 11 years of exile along with Sita and Laxman — would be developed while Chitrakoot would be developed as a special cultural zone.
The chief minister also said that a Lila Gurukul would be opened at Chitrakoot. This gurukul, he asserted, would be the country’s first training centre of drama styles in the Ram Lila tradition.
Earlier, during an exhibition organised at the state BJP headquarters during the party’s national executive meeting held here recently, photographs related to the exile of Lord Ram were displayed.
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh Government is also learnt to have asked the state archaeological department to trace the route Lord Ram took when he went into exile.
“These spots will be linked and the present government would declare the route as Ram Path. It may also promote the circuit as part of religious tourism,” an Archaeological Survey of India official said.
The archaeology department, he said, had already written to its offices in Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore to find places in the state that are linked to Lord Ram.