Ayodhya unveils 3D virtual tour of Lord Ram’s exile and return

Now, devotees visiting Ayodhya will be able to enjoy a nine-minute 3D video portraying lord Ram’s 14-year exile and return to Ayodhya.

The facility has come up at the Darshan Kendra at the Raj Dwar Park, near Hanuman Garhi. Divisional commissioner of Ayodhya Gaurav Dayal inaugurated the centre on Thursday.

This project is similar to the arrangements made at the Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi and Maa Vaishno Devi Bhawan in Jammu.

According to Ayodhya administration, in nine minutes visitors will experience the animated highlights of Ayodhya, Tamsa river, Bharat Milap, Laxman Hill, Anusuiya Mata Darshan, Dandakaranya, Panchvati, Dhanushkodi, Shri Ram’s Surya Tilak in Lanka.

Under an agreement with the Tech XR Innovations Company, the centre now features 10 VR boxes, providing high-quality visuals. Devotees are also provided headphones that offer excellent sound quality. At present, the facility at the centre, which was opened during Deepotsav, is free of charge. But a ticket price of ₹100- 150 will be introduced later.

The Ayodhya administration plans to establish more Darshan Kendras in the city. The process to connect 18 major pilgrimage sites through virtual reality has already begun and shooting for this project has been completed.

Key sites included in this initiative are Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Hanuman Garhi, Nageshwar Nath Temple, Ram Ki Paidi, Chhoti Devkali Temple, Rang Mahal, Surya Kund, Bharat Kund, Guptar Ghat, Badi Devkali Temple, Kanak Bhawan Temple and Dashrath Mahal.

According to Ashwani Pandey, vice chairman of the Ayodhya Development Authority, the Darshan Kendra is part of an initiative to boost tourism.

Currently, it is available as a demo, and over a thousand people have already experienced it. More such centres will be opened and they will include virtual viewings of religious events and sites, such as the Bhasma Aarti of Ujjain and locations like Maihar, Vaishno Devi, Omkareshwar, and Bhimashankar.

The initiative also includes a plan to show this 3D documentary to devotees in the country and abroad. Agreements have been signed with three companies to develop an app that will provide subscribers with a virtual reality device.