Dozens of stonemasons and artisans have been chipping away at the blocks since an appeal for contributions toward a “grand Hindu temple” in Ayodhya was launched in 1990, without knowing when, or whether, the building would be erected. Cash donations and bricks were sent from around the world.

The workers went back to their hometowns and villages just before Saturday’s long-awaited verdict, which said Muslims would get their own land on a new site to build a mosque.

After decades of litigation and religious strife, Hindus rejoiced at the ruling. Activists, priests and pilgrims have since thronged the Nyas Karyashaala workshop, a few kilometres from the contested site where Hindus believe the god Rama was born.

“We never lost faith. We always believed that a grand temple would be built,” Sharad Sharma, a spokesman for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) said at the site.

“Almost 65 per cent of the stone and pillars needed for the temple are ready. Our designs have also been approved by a gathering of religious leaders.”

While there are no officially approved plans for the temple, many believe that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will follow the design prepared by the workshop, as it has close to the leaders of the temple movement.

A model of the “approved” temple is on display at the entry to the noisy workshop.

The new temple would use about 4,800 cubic metres (170,000 cubic feet) of stone and will be 38 metres (125 feet) tall and 81 metres (270 feet) long, Sharma said.

It will have its own shed for cows – considered by Hindus to be sacred – as well as a huge prayer hall.

“We have planned everything to the last detail. We never stopped our work in the last three decades for a moment like this,” he added.

“So many of us dreamed of this moment for decades,” said Brijmohan Das, a Hindu holy man associated with the movement. “It is finally happening in our lifetime.”