Devotees from Nepal’s Janakpur to visit Ayodhya for Ram Lalla’s first Tilakostav

Preparations are in full swing for the first Tilakotsav ceremony at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, for which around 251 people will arrive from Nepal’s Janakpur, believed to be Sita’s birthplace, with tilak for the Ram Lalla idol.
The Tilakostav ceremony, slated for November 18, will be the first after the consecration of the Ram temple earlier this year. Several devotees and seers are expected to take part in the programme, following which seers from Ayodhya will travel to Janakpur on November 26 for the “marriage” of Lord Ram and Sita, which falls on December 9 this year.
Tilakostav is a religious ceremony that is organised before a wedding, wherein male members from the bride’s family put tilak and hand over gifts to the man who is slated to become the groom in the coming days.
A total of 251 tilakhars (people who will apply tilak to the idol), including seers, will travel to Ayodhya from Janakpur with gifts on November 17, a day before the ceremony.
The preparations for the Tilakostav are underway at the Janaki Mandir in Janakpur, as well as in Ayodhya.
According to sources from the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Trust, the gifts which will be brought by the tilakhars include clothes, jewellery, sweets and dry fruits, among others. These will be presented to the Ram Lalla idol in several baskets.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also been invited to the Tilakostav, which will also be attended by the Mayor of Janakpur, Manoj Kumar Sah.