5 min readLucknowJul 26, 2026 04:02 AM IST
First published on: Jul 25, 2026 at 04:25 PM IST
Amid the ongoing donation controversy, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has turned to old and trusted names for the nine-member ‘Dharmik Committee’ set up to “guide” religious and spiritual activities at the Ayodhya Ram temple.
The nine represent both the traditional and contemporary – from a saint who delivers TEDx talks and maintains a LinkedIn presence, to representatives of prominent ashrams and mutts in Ayodhya, to Vedic scholars, a yoga master and successors to leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, as well as those who have been associated with the trust since its inception.
Of the nine members announced by the trust at its July 22 meeting, five are already trustees, trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri is the panel president, and one of the members is his close aide.
The trust hopes the move will help reinforce public confidence, particularly among Ayodhya’s saints and residents, that rituals and spiritual traditions remain central to the temple’s functioning, even as it handles the donation row.
Originally from Beed in Maharashtra, Govind Dev Giri, 77, has been the treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust since its inception in 2020, and is also the vice-president of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, Mathura. A disciple of Pandurang Shastri Athavale, he is known to be a Vedic scholar and founded the Maharishi Vedavyas Pratishthan in the early 1990s, which now runs a network of Vedic schools and gurukuls across the country, including in Manipur.
The five seers in the committee from Ayodhya include Kamal Nayan Das of the Maniram Das Chhawani Ashram, which had played a significant role during the Ram temple movement. It was at this chhawani that the July 22 meeting was held.
The head of the chhawani, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, is president of the Ram temple trust. Given the advanced age of Nritya Gopal and failing health, Kamal Nayan, seen as his successor, often represents him at meetings and manages the chhawani.
Another Ayodhya-based seer who is part of the new Dharmik Committee is Dinendra Das of the Nirmohi Akhara, which was one of the litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute before the Supreme Court. Dinendra is an existing member of the Ram temple trust, and has consistently maintained – and ensured – that rituals at the shrine follow the Ramanandi Vaishnav tradition.
His appointment to the new committee strengthens Dinendra’s hand at a time when there are reports of a divide within the akhara, with some members seeking to replace him.
A third seer from Ayodhya in the Dharmik Committee is Acharya Mithlesh Nandani Sharan, the Mahant of Hanumant Niwas Mandir. A Sanskrit scholar and an alumnus of Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi, Acharya Mithilesh is known for his public discourses, including on TEDx Youth, and his knowledge of Sanatan Dharma, Vedic literature, and Indian philosophy.
His disciples talk about Acharya Mithilesh’s focus on youth, which is why he often addresses Youth Parliament as well as appears on religious and cultural forums across the country and on social media platforms. Acharya Mithilesh also played a key role in training young priests when the Ram temple was inaugurated, and is believed to have been one of the seers whose opinion was taken in selection of the Ram idol for installation in the shrine.
The other two Ayodhya-based seers belong to ashrams who follow the Ramanandi sect i.e. are worshipers of Ram as the avatar of Lord Vishnu and Sita and Hanuman. While Swami Ramanand Das is the Mahant of Ram Katha Kunj Ashram, Swami Rajkumar Das belongs to Ram Vallabh Kunj, and both are popular kathavachaks or narrators of the Ramayana.
The three seers from outside Ayodhya, like Govind Giri, are not new to Ram temple functioning either, and have been founder members of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust since its inception. While Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati belongs to Jyotirmath in Uttrakhand; Swami Vishwa Prasanna Tirtha is from Pejawar Mutt in Udupi, Karnataka, and is a scholar of the Vedas who runs Vedic schools and gurukuls as part of the Mutt; and Swami Parmanand Maharaj belongs to the Mawai Dham near Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
A Vedanta scholar and a yoga master, Parmanand has made a name for his distinctive style of teaching the yoga and Vedanta, and has established a network of ashrams and institutions in India as well as abroad, and reportedly authored “over 150 books”.
Of the nine members announced by the trust at its July 22 meeting, five are already trustees, trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri is the panel president, and one of the members is his close aide. (PTI file photo) 
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