Ayodhya dispute

The Ayodhya debate is a political, historical and socio-religious debate that was most prevalent in the 1990s in India. The main issues revolve around access to the birthplace of the Hindu God Rama, the history and location of the Babri Mosque at the site, and whether a previous Hindu temple was demolished or modified to create the mosque.

History of Ram Janmabhoomi

When the Muslim emperor Babur came down from Farghana in 1527, he defeated the Hindu King of Chittorgarh, Rana Sangram Singh at Fatehpur Sikri, using cannon and artillery. After this victory, Babur took over the region, leaving his general, Mir Banki, in charge as Viceroy.

Mir Banki enforced Mughal rule over the population and used terror to maintain control over the civilian population. Mir Banki came to Ayodhya in 1528 and built the Mosque destroying the temple,.

Ayodhya is revered by devout Hindus as the birthplace of ancient King of India and Hindu God Rama, believed by Hindus to be an avatar of Vishnu. Mir Baqi after building the mosque on the site of the destroyed temple called it Babri Masjid (Mosque), named after his master Babar.

Before the 1940s, the mosque was called Masjid-i Janmasthan ("mosque on Rama's birthplace") by Indian Muslims. The Babri Mosque was one of the largest mosques in Uttar Pradesh, a state in India with some 31 million Muslims. Babri Mosque was surrounded on all sides by Sita Rasoi (Lord Rama's wife Sita Devi's Kitchen - actually a Temple and other Temples of Hanuman, etc.) and the disputed structure sharing walls with Sita and Hanuman Mandir got destroyed in 1992. The original Hindu temple was demolished or dramatically modified on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Babur and the mosque was built in its place. A movement was launched in 1984 by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP party) to reclaim the site for Hindus who want to erect a temple dedicated to the infant Rama (Ramlala), at this spot. Many Muslim organizations have continued to express outrage at the destruction of the disputed structure and carried out the 2005 Ram Janmabhoomi attack in Ayodhya along with strong opposition to building of the proposed new temple even threatening the Head of current Ram Temple (at same spot since 1992). There were several later mosques in Faizabad district in which pilgrim city of Ayodhya falls. But, Ayodhya has almost negligible Muslim population though there are substantial numbers of Muslims 7 km away at District Headquarters - Faizabad. The Babri Mosque at Ayodhya where Muslims never offered Namaz since 1947 independence became famous due to the importance of the disputed site where Hindus have been offering Pujas to Lord Ramlala from even before 1947 independence. Since, 1948 Indian Government order Muslims were not even permitted to be near the site for at least 200 yards but locked the main gate and allowed Hindu pilgrims to enter through a side door. Also, the 1989 Allahabad High Court order opened the locks of the main gate and restored the site for eternity to the Hindus. However, when Hindus wanted modifications of the dilapidated Islamic style structure built by General Mir Banki on orders of Mughal invader Babur from Uzbekistan (Farghana town) and did Shilanyas (inauguration) of a proposed new grand Temple with Government permissions, there were Muslim unrests in many parts of India and Government moved court. Since, then the matter is sub-judice and this political, historical and socio-religious debate over the history and location of the Babri Mosque, is known as the Ayodhya Debate. Recently on court orders Archeological Survey of India dug the spot and found a previous ancient temple that was demolished or modified to create the later Mosque under Babur.

References such as the 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica reported that "Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babar in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple". According to the Hindu view, the ancient temple could have been destroyed on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur. This view has been supported by findings of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which carried out an excavation in Ayodhya.

The latest archeological evidence comes from examination of the site after the destruction of the Babri Mosque. The Archaeological Survey of India under Braj Basi Lal, although initially published as finding no significant structures as these reports were based on inconclusive facts and were mere a media leak, subsequently put forward evidence of a pre-existing temple predating the mosque by hundreds of years as its final report.

Claims have been made that worship took place on a platform called the "Ram Chabutara" prior to Independence. According to British sources, Hindus and Muslims (who came from Faizabad) used to worship together in the Disputed Structure in the 19th century until about 1855. P. Carnegy wrote in 1870:

"It is said that up to that time, the Hindus and Mohamedans alike used to worship in the mosque-temple. Since the British rule a railing has been put up to prevent dispute, within which, in the mosque the Mohamedans pray, while outside the fence the Hindus have raised a platform on which they make their offerings."

This platform was outside the disputed structure but within its precincts. Hindu protagonists say that they have been demanding the return of the site for centuries, and cite accounts from several western travellers to India during the Mughal rule in India.

During Islamic rule many Hindu temples were destroyed by Islamic rulers for both political and religious reasons..

In 1767, Jesuit priest Joseph Tieffenthaler records Hindus worshipping and celebrating Ramanavami at the site of the mosque. In 1788, Tiefffenthaler's French works are published in Paris, the first to suggest that the Babri Masjid was on the birthplace of Rama, saying that "Emperor Aurangzeb got demolished the fortress called Ramkot, and erected on the same place a Mahometan temple with three cuppolas" reclaimed by Hindus through numerous wars after death of Aurangzeb in 1707 A.D like they earlier fortified it during Jahangir's rule as Ramkot.

During the 19th century, the Hindus in Ayodhya were recorded as continuing a tradition of worshiping Rama on the Ramkot hill. According to British sources, Hindus and Muslims used to worship together in the Babri Mosque complex in the 19th century until about 1855. P. Carnegy wrote in 1870: "It is said that up to that time [viz. the Hindu-Muslim clashes in the 1850s] the Hindus and Mohamedans alike used to worship in the mosque temple."

In 1858, the Muazzin of the Babri mosque says in a petition to the British government that the courtyard had been used by Hindus for hundreds of years.

By the middle of the 20th century, Hindus in the area were claiming that the Mosque had not been used by Muslims since 1936, and they took over the 'unused' mosque in 1949.

On 18 March 1886, the Faizabad District Judge passed an order in which he wrote:

I visited the land in dispute yesterday in the presence of all parties. I found that the Masjid built by Emperor Babar stands on the border of Ayodhya, that is to say, to the west and south it is clear of habitations. It is most unfortunate that a Masjid should have been built on land specially held sacred by the Hindus, but as that event occurred 356 years ago, it is too late now to agree with the grievances. (Court verdict by Col. F.E.A. Chamier, District Judge, Faizabad (1886)[2]

File:Babri rearview.jpg

A view of the Babri Mosque, pre-1992.

The Babri Mosque was destroyed by Hindu activists during a political rally which turned into a riot on December 6, 1992.

Contradictory View

It was until about 1990 the standard view that an ancient Ram Janmabhoomi temple was demolished and replaced with the Babri Mosque. References such as the 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica reported that "Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babar in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple".

However, there are some contradictory viewpoints, indicating that there may not have been a significant Hindu temple at the site. In his Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma writes, "Ayodhya seems to have emerged as a place of religious pilgrimage in medieval times. Although chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists as many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage, including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., it does not include Ayodhya in this list." Sharma also notes that Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of pilgrimage. This suggests that there was no significant Hindu temple at the site of the Babri Mosque. After the demolition of the mosque in 1992, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma along with Historians Suraj Bhan, M.Athar Ali and Dwijendra Narayan Jha wrote the Historian's report to the nation saying that the assumption that there was a temple at the disputed site was mistaken, and no valid reason to destroy the mosque.

Demolition of Babri Masjid

On 6 December 1992 the structure was demolished by karsevaks, 150,000 strong, despite a commitment by the government to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. More than 2000 people were killed in the riots following the demolition. Riots broke out in many major Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad.

On 16 December 1992, Liberhan Commission was set up by the Government of India to probe the circumstances that led to the demolition of Babri structure. It has been longest running commission in India's history with several extensions granted by various governments. Politicians like L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were alleged to be influential in the demolition. On 23 November 2009 the Liberhan commission report was leaked to the media. The leaked report concluded that the demolition was planned by top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Hindu nationalism

The Ayodhya debate has grown along with a revival of Hindu Nationalism.

The issue of the disputed structure had remained inactive for four decades, until the mid-1980s. The Hindu Nationalist movement pressed for reclamation of three of its most holy sites which it claimed had suffered at the hands of Islam, at Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi. L K Advani, the leader of the BJP in his memoirs argued, "If Muslims are entitled to an Islamic atmosphere in Mecca, and if Christians are entitled to a Christian atmosphere in the Vatican, why is it wrong for the Hindus to expect a Hindu atmosphere in Ayodhya?"

The legal case continues regarding the title deed of the land tract which is a government controlled property. While the Muslim parties want the Babri Mosque to be reconstructed through a court order, the Hindu side wants a law in parliament to have a temple constructed, saying faith in the existence of Ram Janmabhoomi cannot be decided in a court of law.

The situation regarding the Ram Janmabhoomi has been compared to the Temple Mount controversies and claims in Israel by Daniel Pipes. In particular, Pipes writes:

Ayodhya prompts several thoughts relating to the Temple Mount. It shows that the Temple Mount dispute is far from unique. Moslems have habitually asserted the supremacy of Islam through architecture, building on top of the monuments of other faiths (as in Jerusalem and Ayodhya) or appropriating them (e.g. the Ka'ba in Mecca and the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople).

Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul has praised Hindu Nationalists for "reclaiming India's Hindu heritage". He further added that the destruction of Babri mosque was an act of historical balancing and the repatriation of the Ramjanmabhoomi was a "welcome sign that Hindu pride was re-asserting itself."

See also

• Bombay (film)
• Lajja
• Taslima Nasrin

References

Mahavir Mandir, Patna has published an e book on Ayodhya debate written by Acharya Kishore Kunal available on http;//www.mahavirmandirpatna.org/prakashan/ebook/bookindex.html.

Further reading

• Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, by Ram Sharan Sharma, People's Publishing House (PPH), 2nd Revised Edition, September, 1999, Delhi. Translated into Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Two versions in Bengali.
• Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. 1996. Edited, translated and annotated by Wheeler M. Thacktson. New York and London: Oxford University Press.
• Ayodhya and the Future of India. 1993. Edited by Jitendra Bajaj. Madras: Centre for Policy Studies.
• Elst, Koenraad, Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple (2002) ISBN 81-85990-75-1
• Emmanuel, Dominic. "The Mumbai bomb blasts and the Ayodhya tangle", National Catholic Reporter (Kansas City, August 27, 2003).
• Harsh Narain. 1993. The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources. Delhi: Penman Publishers.
• Hassner, Ron E., War on Sacred Grounds. 2009. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [3]
• R. Nath. Babari Masjid of Ayodhya, Jaipur 1991.
• A. Nandy, S. Trivedy, S. Mayaram, Achyut Yagnik Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanmabhumi Movement and Fear of the Self, Oxford University Press, USA (1998), ISBN 0195642716.
• Rajaram, N.S. (2000). Profiles in Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea Scrolls. New Delhi: Voice of India
• Thakur Prasad Varma and Swarajya Prakash Gupta: Ayodhya ka Itihas evam Puratattva— Rigveda kal se ab tak ("History and Archaeology of Ayodhya— From the Time of the Rigveda to the Present"). Bharatiya Itihasa evam Samskrit Parishad and DK Printworld. New Delhi.
• Thapar, Romila. A Historical Perspective on the Story of Rama in Thapar (2000).
• Thapar, Romila. Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History (New Delhi: Oxford University, 2000) ISBN 0-19-564050-0.