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 of around 2,500 kms and passing through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. From Gopalganj it will be taken to Kaithwalia. The existing biggest Shivling is in Tanjore (Tamil Nadu), built by a Chola dynasty king Rajraja. The Virat Ramayan Mandir, spread across 120 acres, is a dream project of late Acharya Kishor Kunal, the then Mahavir Mandir Trust secretary, and the order for the Shivling was placed by him a decade ago. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had unveiled the temple model at Mahavir Mandir at a function inaugurated by Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati in November 2013. Mahavir Mandir Trust, which runs many hospitals and is engaged in other philanthropic work, has borne all the expenses of the construction. The Viraat Ramayan Mandir is expected to be completed by 2030 as the largest Hindu temple with the main temple having a height of 270 feet, while the temple complex would have 18 towers and 22 temples dedicated to different deities, said Sayan Kunal, trust secretary and son of Acharya Kishor Kunal. In 2024, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) had given clearance to the upcoming Virat Ramayan Mandir, which will have a height of 270 feet to make it the biggest, on the recommendation of the State-level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC). "January 17 is an auspicious day as per planetary settings and is considered as important as Shivratri. There Will showering of flower petals from helicopter as the rituals for the installation of the shivling will begin, while the consecration will happen later," said temple superintendent Sudhakaran....