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ONE CONSTANT refrain in Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s Chhattisgarh speeches is his government’s Ram Van Gaman Path project. First announced in November 2019, it entails development of sites where Lord Ram is said to have spent time for 10 years of his 14-year exile as “tourist centres”.
Four years down the line, the first phase of the Rs 134 crore project is nearing completion, the crowning glory of Baghel’s other soft Hindutva initiatives such as a Kaushalya festival and a Ramayana national cultural festival. The CM prefers to call them promotion of a regional Chhattisgarhi identity.
The nine sites being developed as part of the first phase, over a distance of 2,260 km, are: Sitamarhi Harchauka (Koriya), Ramgarh (Sarguja), Shivrinarayan (Janjgir Champa), Turturiya (Balodabazar), Chandkhuri (Raipur), Rajim (Gariyaband), Saptarshi Ashram Sihawa (Dhamtari), Dalpat Reservoir in Bastar (Jagdalpur) and Ramaram (Sukma).
On its website, the Chhattisgarh government says of Ram Van Gaman Path: “The state is the maternal home of Shri Ram as his mother Mata Kaushalya was born in Chandkhuri, a town located 27 km from Raipur. However, the most relevant connection between the Suryavanshi prince and Chhattisgarh is the fact that he spent about 10 years of the 14 years of his exile in the forests of the state. During this time, he is said to have travelled to 75 places that the state government wants to develop as religious tourism spots.”
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Apart from Kaushalya, the website says the ashram of Valmiki, who composed the Ramayana, was in Turturiya village in Balodabazar district, and that it was at this place that Sita took shelter when she was banished from Ayodhya. Ram and Sita’s twins Luv and Kush were born here, says the state government.
In December 2020, Baghel inaugurated a renovated temple for Kaushalya in Chandkhuri near Raipur, said to be the only one dedicated to Lord Ram’s mother. The Shivrinarayan temple was renovated in April 2022.
Incidentally, the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had also envisaged a similar Ram circuit in the state before it was toppled in 2020. Earlier this year, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP announced the formation of a Shri Ramchandra Path-Gaman trust for the purpose.
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