A Brief History Of Shri Ram Temple Dispute - Part 4

Post Babri Masjid Demolition Events –

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the tension between the two sides increased. Tensions faced further increase on the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition when VHP reaffirmed its resolve to build the Temple at the disputed site. Hindus and Hindu sacred places faced many terrorist attacks after the demolition of Babri masjid as mentioned in the previous Sections. Many riots also took place across the nation. One of the big incidents was when around 58 pilgrims returning from Ayodhya were killed in an attack on the train coach and were burned alive by the rioters of the Muslim community which led to the outrage from the side of Hindu community members. These riots lasted long enough to cause approximately 2000 deaths in the Godhara city of Gujarat. Some unofficial reports stated that it was the only riot in the history of India in which the number of Muslims died was more than the number of Hindus who were killed. This is the last riot that has happened in Gujarat since then.

Following the events, in 2003 Allahabad (currently known as Prayagraj) High court ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for excavation of the disputed site to investigate the existence of the temple of Lord Shri Ram before the construction of the Mosque. Besides the order of the court, the ASI had conducted surveys previously in 1970 and 1992. The reports submitted by ASI to the court was based on all the three excavations conducted by them.

Excavation of the Disputed site-

Awadh Kishore Narain of Banaras Hindu University led an excavation in Ayodhya during 1969-70. He dated the establishment of Ayodhya to the early 17^th century BCE. Braj Basi Lal led a more detailed ASI study of the area in 1975-76.  Though the results of this study were not published in that period, between 1975 and 1985, an archaeology project was carried out in Ayodhya to examine certain sites referenced to in the Ramayana or that belong to its tradition.  The Babri Mosque site was one of the fourteen sites examined during this project.

The team of archaeologists, led by former Director-General of ASI, B.B. Lal in 1975-76 found rows of pillar bases that must have belonged to a larger building than the Babri Mosque. After a gap of many years since the excavation, an article was published about this in the RSS magazine in 1990. As per the statement of Lal in Allahabad High Court, when he submitted a seven-page preliminary report to the ASI, mentioning the discovery of pillar bases, immediately south of the Babri mosque structure in Ayodhya, Subsequently all technical facilities were withdrawn, and despite repeated requests, the project was not revived for another 10-12 years.  Thus the final report was never submitted, the preliminary report was only published in 1989 and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) volume on the historicity of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Subsequently in his book in 2008, Historicity Mandir and Setu, Lal wrote, “Attached to the piers of the Babri Masjid, there were twelve stone pillars, which carried not only typical Hindu motifs and moldings but also figures of Hindu deities.  It was self-evident that these pillars were not an integral part of the masjid, but were foreign to it.

K.K. Muhammed, a member of B.B Lal’s team, in his autobiography claimed that Hindu temple was found in excavation and said that: “left historians are misleading the Muslim communities by aligning with fundamentalists”.

Accordingly, archaeological findings of burnt bases, pillars made of brick, a few meters from the mosque, indicated that a large temple stood in alignment with the Babri Mosque since the 11^th Century. In a trench at a distance of four meters south of the mosque, parallel rows of pillar-foundations made of brickbats and stones were found.

In July 1992, eight eminent archaeologists went to Ramkot Hill to evaluate and examine the findings. These findings included religious sculptures and a statue of Lord Shri Hari Vishnu. They said that the inner boundary of the disputed structure rests, at least on one side, on an earlier existing structure, which may have belonged to an earlier temple. The objects examined by them also included terracotta Hindu images of the Kushan Period (100-300 AD) and carved buff sandstone objects that showed images of Vaishnav deities and Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. They concluded that these fragments belonged to a temple of the Nagara style (900-1200 AD).

The ASI excavated the Ram Janambhoomi site in the direction of the Allahabad high court in 2003. The archaeologists also reported evidence of a large Hindu structure pre-existed the Babri Masjid. A team of 131 laborers, including 52 Muslims was engaged in the excavations. On 11 June 2003, the ASI issued an interim report that only listed the findings of the period between 22 May and 6 June 2003. In August 2003 the ASI handed a 574-page report to the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court.

The excavations gave ample traces that there was a mammoth pre-existing structure beneath the three-domed Babri structure. Ancient perimeter from East to West and North to South have been found beneath the Babri structure. Beautiful stone pieces bearing carved Hindu ornamental like lotus, Kaustubh jewel, alligator façade, etc., were used in these walls. These decorated architectural pieces were anchored with precision at varied places in the walls. A tiny portion of a stone slab is sticking out at a place below 20 feet in one of the pits. The rest of the slab lies covered in the wall. The projecting portion bears a five-letter Devanagari inscription that turns out to be a Hindu name claimed by VHP. The items found below 20 feet should be at least 1,500 years old. According to archaeologists about a foot of loam, layer gathers on topsoil every hundred years. Primary clay was not found even up to a depth of 30 feet. It provides a clue to the existence of some structure at that place over the last 2,500 years.

More than 30 Pillar bases have been found at equal spans. The pillar-bases are in two rows and the rows are parallel. The pillar-base rows are in North-South Direction. A wall is superimposed upon another wall. At least three layers of the floor are visible. An octagonal holy fireplace (Yagna Kund) was found. These facts prove the enormity of the pre-existing structure.  Surkhii has been used as a construction material in our country for over 2,000 years and, in the constructions at the Janma Bhumi, Surkhi has been extensively used. Molded bricks of round and other shapes and sizes were neither in vogue during the Middle Ages nor are they in use today. It was in vogue only 2,000 years ago. Many ornate pieces of touchstone pillars have been found in the excavation. Terracotta religious figures, serpent, elephant, horse-rider, saints, etc., have been found. Even to this day, terracotta figures are used in worship during Diwali celebrations, then put by temple sanctums for invoking divine blessings. Gupta Empire and Kushan Empire period bricks have been found. Brick walls of the Garhwal period also have been found in excavations.

Nothing has been found to prove the existence of residential habitation there. The excavation suggests a picture of a vast compound housing a sole distinguished a greatly celebrated structure used for divine purposes and not that of a colony consisting of small houses. It was an uncommon and highly celebrated place and not a place of habitation for the common people. Hindu Pilgrims have visited that place for thousands of years. Even today there are temples around that place and the items found in the excavations point to the existence of a holy structure of North Indian architectural style at that place.

Archaeological Excavations by Archaeological Survey of India in 1970, 1992 and 2003 in and around the disputed site have found evidence indicating that a large Hindu structure existed on the site. However, the ASI was not specific in their reports that whether it was Lord Shri Ram's temple as the remnants had more resemblance to Lord Shiva's temple. ASI stated that "distinctive features found in the remnants were associated with temples of north India". Excavations further yielded:

Stone and decorated bricks as well as the mutilated sculpture of a divine couple and carved architectural features, including foliage patterns, amalaka, kapota-pali, doorjamb with semi-circular shrine pilaster, broken octagonal shaft of black schist pillar, lotus motif, circular shrine having pranala (water chute) in the north and 50 pillar bases in association with a huge structure.

But when looking at the facts that major Hindu temples always have statues of other gods and goddesses along with the God or Goddess to whom the temple belongs. According to the facts found, Lord Shri Ram used to worship Lord Shiva a lot, so there is a great possibility that in his temple worshiped and made by his pilgrims the idols or Shiv Ling of Lord Shiva was placed by them. Also, it is evident from our ancient religious structures that in the temples, as art the idols of gods and goddesses were made. Remains the question of missing idols of Lord Shri Ram, it can be said that it's possible that they were destructed by Mughals before the construction of the Mosque or either they were taken away by the pilgrims after the destruction of the temple by Mughals and before the construction of Mosque began. Anyways the reports of the ASI proved a Hindu structure of temple existed on the disputed land before the existence of Mosque built by Babur and proved the rights of Hindus on the disputed land.

Rumors against the existence of Shri Ram Temple-

The above opinions were based on Archaeological Survey’s excavation reports, but before the archaeological opinion was published, the views of some intellectuals were different. An author Ram Sharan Sharma wrote a book “Communal History and Rama’s Ayodhya” in which he stated that “Ayodhya seems to have emerged as a place of religious pilgrimage in medieval times. Although chapter 85 of Vishnu Smriti lists as many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage, including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., it does not include Ayodhya in the list”. He also noted that Tulsidas, who wrote Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of pilgrimage.  But when we look at the facts based on the ASI reports, it suggests the existence of the Temple at the disputed place.

Moreover, resolving the misconceptions that were created by Sharma and other pseudo seculars against the temple, the absence of mention of Ayodhya in the Vishnu Smriti can be analyzed by the fact that it mentions the several places that were existed as places of pilgrimage before the birth of Lord Shree Ram. It’s quite obvious that the pilgrims will be worshiping the idols after Lord Shri Ram left this world. Similar remains the analysis of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, It covers the period when Lord Shri Ram physically existed in this world. And pilgrims will surely convert Ayodhya into pilgrimage after Lord left.  Another point to be considered is that all of them mentioned the existence of Lord Shri Ram and his birth in the City of Ayodhya, which proves he was born there, so we must make a temple at his birthplace because we know that "Lord Shri Ram is everywhere, but the sacred land he incarnated on doesn't exist everywhere". 


NOTE: References to all the parts of this article are placed together at the end of part 5


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