Meet Silchar’s Ranjit Mandal who is recreating Ramayana through idols in Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir 

Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh is now covered by commandos of the Anti-Terrorist Squad. Armed men guarding every centimeter of the city where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 200 other top dignitaries from the country will gather on August 5, for the Bhoomi Pujan of Ram Mandir to be built on Ram Janmabhoomi.

After the demolition of Babri Masjid, the Bhumi Pujan is certainly going to be the biggest event in the controversial land. The entire world will look at it closely as the tonality of the celebration is certain to send across many messages which will play a role in the upcoming elections. For the people of Barak Valley and the entire Northeast, there is something more to look out for.

In the Ram Mandir that is to be built, there will be a ‘Ram Katha Kunj.’ This is said to be the dream of Ashok Singhal who was the international working president of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) for over 20 years and was in charge of the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The man in charge of this dream project is Malugram Ramkrishna Palli’s Ranjit Mandal and his father Narayan Chandra Mandal.

They started working on this project supervised and funded by VHP, in early 2013. “The idea is to recreate Ramayana through idols. There is a script that we are following and it starts with the birth of Lord Rama in Baisihtashram and ends with his Rajya Abhishek (regaining the throne) after spending 14-years in exile and defeating Ravana,” informs Ranjit Mandal.

As one walks through the ‘Kunj’ they will see the idols highlighting the scenes. “Everyone knows Ramayana, there are so many TV shows and movies available on the epic. What we wanted to ensure is that we are doing justice to the emotions of each and every scene,” says Mandal.

From Lord Rama’s childhood to him meeting Sita Mata for the first time and then both Rama and Lakshmana learning the art of war from their Gurus the “Ram Katha Kunj” filled with idols is a new way of telling the tale. “Consistency is a big challenge. You are using Lord Rama in many scenes, in each and every scene he must look the same from all the sides. Please understand, these are not static idols that we worship, there are idols in action depicting various emotions,” explains Mandal.

In some scenes, Mandal’s idol of Lord Rama is shy as he is meeting Sita Mata for the first time, then he gets soft when he bids adieu to Raja Dasharath before going on a 14-year-exile. There are a plethora of emotions and the responsibility to characterise each and every moment to match the actual is on Ranjit Mandal and his father, Narayan Chandra Mandal.

“Yes, we were handed over a script but for us to understand sequences in-depth, we had to do a lot of research and that is why it took us seven years to reach a position when we can say that the Kunj will be ready before the temple is built,” says Mandal.

VHP leaders are monitoring the work in progress diligently and Mandal says he keeps getting calls from ministers in the Uttar Pradesh Government as well as in Delhi. Journalists and editors make frequent visits to his workplace to cover the development and showcase the art and that includes the likes of Deepak Chaurasia, Sudhir Choudhury among many others. “However, in the pandemic, I feel scared whenever someone comes from Mumbai or Delhi,” he says.

This is not the first project that the VHP has entrusted him with. During Kumbh Mela, when the Indian Government decided to handover the idols of Lord Rama to foreign governments, the responsibility was given to Ranjit Mandal and his father. He has made idols of Lord Ganesha, Tulsi Das among many others for foreign governments enterprises and individuals.

Ranjit Mandal’s journey started in 1997 when late Ashok Singhal took him to Delhi and his first break he says was an idol of Veda Vyasa, the legendary author of the Mahabharata. After that, he made a giant idol of Lord Hanuman, and then traveled across India, made idols in almost every state of the country which was preserved in government offices or places of historic importance. “My Gurudev, by holding whose hand I got into this is Dr.Sukumar Bhattacharjee,” says Ranjit Mandal.

Bhattacharjee is the founder of Vivek Bahini – Silchar, a non-political, not for profit, socio-cultural organisation. “All my life I will remain indebted to both Sukumar Bhattacharjee and Ashok Singhal. Whatever I am today it’s because of them,”  said Mandal.

Life for the 42-year-old Ranjit Mandal has not always been a bed full of roses. When he was in class 7, his father Narayan Chandra Mandal met with a deadly accident leaving him bedridden. After school, Ranjit Mandal used to rush to Fatak Bazar while his friends were playing in the playground. “My father had a small shop which he could not open anymore because of his disabilities. Like a hawker, I used to go to Fatak Bazar and sell items. We were in the middle of a deep financial crisis and could hardly afford food,” said Mandal.

“Even today I do not have much money, but my wealth is seeing my work in museums and places of historic importance. In the form of my work I have devoted my life in worshiping Lord Rama, now it all depends on his blessings,” says Mandal. Despite such accomplishments in his field, his in-laws, the extended family considers him to be a poor, “for them only the bank balance matters. For me, my art is my bank balance,” he asserted.

Humble, yet extremely talented, Ranjit Mandal wants to leave behind something more than the idols he makes. His dream is to open an “Ashram” for the poor, disable, and old. In the Ashram, he wants to teach and train young minds in Barak Valley the art of idol making and sculpture. “It is my dream and I will need the help of the state government to fulfill it. I want to do it, but rest depends on the blessings of Lord Rama,” he concludes.