Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
Advani and Dr Joshi might not attend the consecration ceremony due to health and age-related reasons. Advani is 96 and Dr Joshi will turn 90 next month.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration.
Yogiraj's brother Suryaprakash said it was a memorable day for the family.
During the winter, Badrinath's 45 kg of gold and 35 kg of silver is kept at the Narsingh temple in Joshimath, located about half a kilometre from the houses which have developed cracks because of the subsidence.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand also said if the administration stops them from offering prayers, he would inform the Shankaracharya and follow his instructions.
"I have always felt that Lord Ram has been shielding me and my family from all the bad times and I strongly believe that it is him, who chose me for the auspicious task," Yogiraj, who has received effusive praise for his work, told PTI.
A new idol of Ram Lalla sculpted by Mysuru-based Arun Yogiraj has been selected for installation at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, temple trust's general secretary Champat Rai said on Monday.
India took over the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022 and the government decided to illuminate India's G20 logo at some of the nation's most iconic locations for a week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district on Friday.
Modi said he was at a loss of words to describe what he felt while he was sitting before the statue.
Addressing a gathering of priests and devotees, he said the redevelopment of centres of faith in India shows the country's growing pride in its ancient saints and philosophers like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Reacting to the statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said "insulting the Sanatan Dharma again and again" has become the habit of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders.
A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva -- all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.
'All hydropower projects in the Himalayan region must be stopped.' 'Joshimath is not alone.'
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday visited Kedarnath to review the preparations in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Himalayan temple on November 5.
After arriving in Kedarnath, Modi watched a brief documentary detailing the reconstruction work carried out at the Himalayan temple after the devastating deluge of 2013 and then entered the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine.
Even as the race for the Congress president's post is hotting up, its veteran leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh on Friday said he is not interested in becoming the party chief.
These human interventions in nature, along with climate change, are responsible for the disaster faced by the pilgrim town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand, which is sinking, he said.
While there was unrest in the rest of the Kashmir valley, the Dal Lake was serene and peaceful.
A total of 800 people, belonging to 237 families, have so far been shifted to safety by the district administration
Some of our leaders were busybusy over the weekend.
The Church located near the Chest Diseases Hospital on the foothills of the Shankaracharya hillock in Dalgate area of the city here will officially be thrown open for the public on Thursday, but the prayer was held on Wednesday, officials said.
The mega corridor, whose foundation stone was laid by Modi on March 8, 2019, connects the main temple with Lalita Ghat via a corridor, and grand gateways and ornamental arches have been built in heritage architecture style in four directions, facing the ancient temple at its core.
'The cracks I saw yesterday were the largest I have seen in my life. We are scared.'
Since it has some political overtones, markets may see some disruption
Western influence was one of the main reasons behind the rise in incidents of rape in the country, Sankaracharya of Puri Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswati said in Kolkata on Wednesday.
'The problem is that all this reconstruction work is being monitored by the prime minister himself with inputs being provided directly by the PMO so nobody in the state government dare contradict them even if their suggestions are totally contrary to what the ecology of this region requires.'
In a huge relief to the pontiffs of Kanchi Sankara Mutt, Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi, a local court on Wednesday acquitted them in the murder case of a temple official in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu.
'Aurangzeb supported construction of the Kumarswamy math and the reconstruction of the Kedar temple and supported the Jangambadi math in Banaras.'
Officials said 13 more families living in houses with huge cracks were moved by the administration to safe locations on Sunday.
'It is exceptionally important for Hindus to once again get in touch with the foundation of Hinduism.' 'Aggressive evangelists are reducing Hinduism to its lowest common denominator.'
The Kanchi seer has moved the Principal Sessions Court in Chennai for anticipatory bail, apprehending arrest in another case.
Modi said Ramakrishna Paramhansa was one saint who had a clear vision of her and his disciple Swami Vivekananda had also felt the spiritual vision about the goddess, which infused into him extraordinary energy and strength.
Will the Dwarka Shankaracharya play the Congress game in Varanasi?
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders condoled the death of the seer.
Covid restrictions notwithstanding, the city's creative spirit reflects in the pandal created by the Bandra West Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandal.
Terming religious conversion a silent invasion, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said the menace of conversion should not be allowed to grow in society.
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