Banaras Hindu University (BHU) felt a different kind of happiness when on the auspicious day of Dev Uthani (Prabodhini) Ekadashi on Thursday, the idol of Radha-Krishna, the ‘Aradhya’ of Bharat Ratna Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of BHU, was re-established in Malviya Bhawan with proper rituals. Mahamana used to worship this idol daily. After the death of Malviya, these idols of God along with his family members had also gone to his ancestral home Prayagraj.

After almost 77 years, his family members have decided to hand over this idol to Malviya Bhawan which was handed over to the Vice-Chancellor Prof Sudhir Kumar Jain who happily gave approval to the Director of Malviya Bhavan Prof Rajaram Shukla for the installation of the idol and selection of place as per the Vaastu. Later, Prof Shukla, in consultation with the scholars, gave the form of a temple to the north-east corner of Malviya Bhawan and made arrangements for the installation of both the idols there. Next to this cell, Mahamana’s kitchen and bedroom are also preserved even today.

On the suggestions of the V-C to bring the idol of Radha-Krishna from Prayagraj, Co-designated Director of Malviya Bhawan and Chairman of the Vedic Philosophy department Prof  Shri Krishna Tripathi had gone there and on the instructions of Chancellor and Mahamana’s grandson Justice (retired) Giridhar Malviya, Malviya’s fifth generation daughter Anjali Malviya and her family members also came to hand over the idol. Around 11.33 am under the leadership of Prof Shukla and in the supervision of Prof Tripathi, the V-C established the idol by worshiping with rituals. Vedic scholars of the Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan (SVDV) completed the work of worship and installation.

Expressing happiness on the said occasion, Prof Jain said that it is the good fortune of all of us that on the day of Dev Uthani Ekadashi, we got the privilege of darshan, worship and installation of the revered idol of Mahamana and it is a matter of pride for the university. The V-C also said that in this way we will continue to try to bring the memories related to Mahamana from India and abroad to the university. Prof Shukla also ensured the arrangements for daily worship, aarti and bhog of the idol.