The religious chants echoed through loudspeakers, and some of the thousands of devotees who have descended on the holy city of Ayodhya chimed in, even as the frenzy of construction around India’s largest Hindu temple droned on nearby.
The long-anticipated and extravagant temple, Ram Mandir, is slowly taking shape on controversial ground where a 16th-century mosque once stood, in a city that’s been a flashpoint for communal violence. Much of the sprawling complex is still a mess of dust and bulldozers, with two floors not yet completed.
But despite being only half-finished, the temple will open Monday, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
