Gita Press to allow free download of Ramcharitmanas amid increased demand due to Ram Mandir ceremony

Ahead of the highly-anticipated Ram Mandir consecration ceremony, the demand for Ramcharitmanas is at an all-time high. Such is the interest that Gita Press will allow free download of the epic poem, based on Ramayana and written by Tulsidas, as it is unable to meet that demand.

The Gorakhpur-based publisher is famous for printing Hindu religious books and texts in myriad languages. According to manager Lalmani Tripathi, ever since the date of the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya was announced, the demand for Ramcharitmanas has increased exponentially.

"We do not have the preparedness to suddenly print and provide 2 lakh (200,000) to 4 lakh (400,000) copies of the Ramcharitmanas. Since last month, we have managed to make available 1 lakh (100,000) copies of the book," said Tripathi.

"In many places, we have to humbly say that we do not have stock available. Recently, we received a demand for 50,000 Ramcharitmanas from Jaipur and a demand for 10,000 copies came from Bhagalpur, which we had to regretfully decline. This is the scenario across the entire country," he added.

Anyone wanting to read Ramcharitmanas can visit the Gita Press website where the book is freely available in 10 languages. It will be made downloadable by Tuesday (Jan 16) and initially, 50,000 readers would be able to keep the e-copy of the book.

Tripathi said if the demand increases, "we will scale up the traffic capacity, enabling up to 1 lakh (100,000) people to download the Ramcharitmanas simultaneously".

Established in 1923, Gita Press is one of the world's largest publishers and has published 95 crore books in 15 languages so far, according to Tripathi. Its objective is to "promote and spread the principles of Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public by publishing Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads, Puranas, Discourses of eminent Saints and other character-building books".

Ram temple consecration ceremony

Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside several eminent personalities will be attending the consecration ceremony of the temple on January 22, over three years after laying the foundation stone (Bhumi puja) in August 2020.

The temple is central to the beliefs of Hindus and has been built after a long legal process which culminated with the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2019.

Under the verdict, the land upon which the Babri masjid was razed was given to the Hindu side while the Muslims were granted a piece of land to build a mosque, far away from the contentious spot.

(With inputs from agencies)