In a moving ceremony at Ayodhya’s Brihaspati Kund, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the statues of three revered South Indian saints, Tyagaraja Swami, Purandara Dasa, and Arunachala Kavi, in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
She said that devotion to Lord Ram in South India is not merely a belief but a way of life. From Carnatic music sung in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Sanskrit, she highlighted how bhakti to Shri Ram united Bharat beyond language.
Sitharaman recalled how Tyagaraja Swami refused royal patronage, dedicating every song to Ram. His composition Seetha Kalyanam still echoes in South Indian weddings, including her daughter’s. She spoke of Kerala’s tradition during Ashadha, when families light lamps and recite Valmiki Ramayana, a living proof that devotion is India’s soul.
Quoting Arunachala Kavi’s Ramanatakam, she said, “Look at Mother Sita with a hundred thousand eyes; none is more beautiful than her.”
She also honoured Molla, a woman from the potter community, who wrote the Molla Ramayanam in Telugu, showing that bhakti knows no caste or gender.
“The saints who remembered Ram in every breath now stand united in Ayodhya,” Sitharaman said. “This is the union of North and South through devotion.
