.BY ONE COUNT there are just about 700,000 Hindu temples in India. But for several fans it was the one that did certainly not exist-- a building to denote the ostensible birth place of Ram, a Hindu god-- that mattered the best. On January 22nd their yearning will certainly come to a side when Narendra Modi, the prime minister, venerates the Ram mandir, a grand holy place in the northern metropolitan area of Ayodhya. Some 8,000 individuals are going to go to the ceremony, including ratings of officials coming from Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and dignitaries coming from 55 nations. Why is the holy place therefore important?