PATNA, Jan. 5 -- The upcoming Virat Ramayan Mandir at Kaithwalia under Kalyanpur block of East Champaran will have the world's largest shivling, weighting 210 tonnes and 33 feet in height and 33 feet in circumference, installed on January 17 amid chanting of mantras by the Vedic scholars and offering of water brought from five sacred places - Kailash Mansarovar, Gangotri, Hardwar, Prayagraj and Sonepur, said temple officials on Sunday.

The shivling for the Shiva temple, the first of the 18 temples to be completed in the temple premises, was built at Mahabalipuram and it was quite a task to bring a single block black granite for installation, as it took 45 days to reach Gopalganj in Bihar by a specially designed truck covering a distance ...