The Battle for Ram Mandir

About a 1000 years back in history with the advent of islamic invaders in India, looting, destroying temples, picking any woman and selling them as sex slaves, and making compulsory jizya (tax for practicing non-Islamic religion) were common occurrences all over the country. The tyrants had made this land full of sorrow and grievance.

Starting with the Ghurids of Afghanistan, Khiljis, the Delhi Sultanate, the Tughluq dynasty, the Lodis, the Sayyeds, the Suris, to finally the Mughals, all these dynasties were outsiders to our land and had come here for merely religious reasons. An American historian, Will Durant, called the islamic conquest of India as one of the bloodiest stories of human history, not just of Indian history, but of human history. Historian Sitaram Goyal ji, in his seminal work, had documented about 40,000 temples that were destroyed just in a span of 500 years, from 1000 till the conquest of Afghanistan tyrants till 1525. The population of the Indian subcontinent itself fell by 80 million. During the same period, around 25 lakh women were taken away as slaves, and sex traders, to the faraway lands of the Middle East, to Afghanistan, and Persia (modern-day Iran). But the culture of our Bharat Bhoomi is so deeply rooted that even during these rough times, it rose back and continues to foster itself.

Even though the temple of Somnath in Gujarat was attacked and looted nearly 18 times, it still stands with pride today. The same goes with the Jagannath Temple at Puri, Hampi temple in Karnataka, Khajurao Temple and other major temples of India. Among all, the most prominent temples that were destroyed by these tyrants were Shri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath Temple at Varanasi, and Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple at Mathura.

There is a certain Minar at Ghazni (in Afghanistan) with a infamous quote saying “Duktare Hindustan Nila Me Do Dinar”, meaning “the daughters of Hindustan are auctioned here for two dinars each”.
The kind of desecration of our knowledge systems and our libraries including Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramshila, etc. were done to an extent beyond the scope of our imagination today. When the Bhaktiar Khilji attacked Nalanda University, it is said that the manuscripts and the books that contained ample amount of knowledge had been destroyed and were burnt for six to eight months. Unfortunately it’s an irony today, that if we come out of the Nalanda premises the railway station is named after the very same Bhaktiyarpur, and perhaps there is even a town named Bhaktiyarpur. It boggles one’s mind as to why we are the only nation where we eulogize these barbarians of the past.

Talking about the most boiling case of temple destruction, the destruction of Ram Mandir of Ayodhya and its reconstruction took over 500 years of legal and non legal battles. It’s a journey of many ups and downs, violence and peace but at the end, it is truth only that triumphs. Maryada Purushottam Prabhu Shri Ram, is not just a name, it is belief, it is soul, devotion, birth, and it is only the death. Ram is in everything, he is the existence and he is the destruction and he is the only ultimate source of energy. He is the one who is the ultimate embodiment of righteousness, chivalry, virtue, and truth and the one who had made this Bharat Bhoomi sacred and divine. In the tapestry of ancient wisdom, the story of Rama imparts timeless lessons of honor, integrity, and selfless service. The one who teaches us that ‘Truth always triumphs’, the protector of Indian Dignity , no matter how powerful, the evil is will always be defeated by that ultimate energy. Adding on, the ego and arrogance of a person will let his destruction like that of Ravana.

Ayodhya, the birthplace of Prabhu Shri Ram has kept its holiness in it from the ancient time. The land revered by the sacred feet of Shri Ram had resisted many attacks. The land which is thousands of years old has come containing the divine and blissfulness in itself, it had seen a mass scale of destruction after Islamic advent in India.

It is through Valmiki Ramayana originally written in Sanskrit that largely spread Rama katha. Earlier there was a time when people were not able to read and write Sanskrit, so Tulsidas Maharaj translated the Ramayana in Awadhi, Bruj and mixed languages and this is how Rama katha reached to each and every home. Later many poets wrote Rama khata in their own way which came to be known as Kamki Ramayana. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama’s birthplace is on the banks of the Sarayu river in a city called “Ayodhya”. Through this way each and every devotee gets to know that Ayodhya is the birthplace of Shri Ram.
The Pran Pratishtha, i.e., consecration ceremony (invoking the life force in the idol) finally happened on the 22nd of January in the holy city of Ayodhya. This Ram Mandir has a very long historic journey containing in it, starting from its demolition by Babur to today, when it is being reconstructed once again.

The first phase of this journey begins 495 years ago when Mughal Emperor Babur captured Delhi. According to historians and autobiography of Babur– “Baburnama”, there is a clear mention that Babar’s commander Mir Baqi had built the Babri Masjid on the orders of Babur. He built the Babri Masjid in 1528 at the same place where there had been a Ram Mandir. Before the 1940s, the Babri Masjid was called Masjid-i-Janmasthan — mosque of the birthplace- in official documents including the then revenue records. In 1611, an English traveler William Finch visited Ayodhya and recorded the “ruins of the Ranichand -Ramachand- castle and houses”. However he had made no mention of a mosque. By 1672, the appearance of a mosque at the site can be inferred because Lal Das’s Awadh-Vilasa describes the location without mentioning a castle, house, or temple. In 1717, the Moghul Rajput noble Jai Singh II purchased land surrounding the site and his documents show a mosque.

The Jesuit missionary Joseph Tiefenthaler, who had visited the site between 1766 and 1771, wrote that either Aurangzeb or Babur had demolished the Ramkot fortress, including the house that was considered as the birthplace of Rama by Hindus. He further stated that a mosque was constructed in its place, but the Hindus continued to offer prayers at a mud platform that marked the birthplace of Shri Ram.
In 1810, Francis Buchanan visited the site, and stated that the structure destroyed was a temple dedicated to Rama, not a house. Buchanan also recorded that there was an inscription on the wall of the mosque stating it to have been built by Babur. The Islamic historians of that era had also mentioned with pride, the fact that the temple had been demolished to build a mosque at Ayodhya. In 1838, a British Archaeologist Dungi Martin who conducted a survey near the mosque had stated that the pillars of mosque were taken from the temple.

Although there are many historians who opposed this claim that the mosque had been built by destroying any temple, historian R. S. Sharma, state that such claims of Babri Masjid site being the birthplace of Rama sprang up only after the 18th century. Sharma states that Ayodhya emerged as a place of Hindu pilgrimage only in medieval times, since ancient texts do not mention it as a pilgrim center. Writer Kishore Kunal, who examined Buchanan’s documents, states that all the claimed inscriptions on the Babri mosque were fake. According to him they were affixed sometime around 1813 (almost 285 years after the supposed construction of the mosque in 1528 CE), and later repeatedly replaced.

In 1853, a group of armed Hindu ascetics belonging to the Nirmohi Akhada occupied the Babri Masjid site, and claimed ownership of the structure. Subsequently, the civil administration stepped in, and in 1855, divided the mosque premises into two parts: one for Hindus, and the other for Muslims. In 1883, the Hindus launched an effort to construct a temple on the platform. When the administration denied them the permission to do this, they took the matter to court. In 1885, the Hindu Sub Judge Pandit Hari Kishan Singh dismissed the lawsuit. Subsequently, the higher courts also dismissed the lawsuit in 1886, in favor of status quo.

Then comes the year of 1857, the year of the First War of Independence. Around this time the first violent fight for Ram Mandir took place. In the same year the Mahant of Hanumangadhi built a platform -Chabutara- in the eastern part of the courtyard of the mosque. This Chabutara came to be known as “Ram Chabutara” i.e. Birthplace of Shri Ram. In 1857 itself the Maulvi of the mosque Mohammad Asghar filed an application before the magistrate to protect against the transfer of this place to the birthplace of Shri Ram. In 1859, the British government built a wall between the places of worship of Hindus and Muslim to calm down the issue. Hindus thus started entering through the eastern side and while Muslims through the northern side.

In 1860,1877,1883 and 1884,several applications were filed in the court by Hindus but all of them were rejected. Then a change came in 1885 when Mahant Raghuvardas applied to take the legal rights of the Chabutara and sought permission to built a Mandir over it. Till this time ,there was no mention in the filings by Hindus that the mosque had been built on the mandir, and they were merely asking for the mandir to be built on the eastern premises of the mosque. In 1886, the file was rejected.
From 1870 to 1949, it was revealed in some documents that at least 3 Mandirs were destroyed and mosque had been built on that place in Ayodhya and one among them was Babri Masjid. During this time, many small and big fights had also taken place such as in 1934, some part of the mosque was demolished. In 1944 a new party/player came into play, the Waqf Board. The Waqf Commissioner had declared the mosque as Sunni Property since Babur was a Sunni Muslim by faith according to him.

Two years after Indian independence, in 1949, Nehru was the P.M. of India, Gandhiji had already died and Govind Vallabh Pant was the Chief Minister of United Provinces (comprising U.P. and Uttarakhand of modern-day). In month of December 1949, All India Brahmin Mahasabha organized a 9-day Ramcharitmanas recitation in Ayodhya. After the lesson was over at midnight of 22nd December that is between 22nd and 23rd December, idols of Ram and Sita were placed inside the mosque and it was said that Ramlala appeared in the Babri mosque.

Now here comes a man whose decision changed the whole story. The one who had heeded the words of Pandit Nehru and C.M. of U.P, was K K Nair alias Kandankulathil Karunakaran Nair’s brave moves energized the Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement. He was the District Magistrate of Faizabad when idols were placed in Ayodhya Ram Mandir on the night of December 22–23, 1949. Though the Congress administration including Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru ordered for removal of the idols, Nair objected in files arguing that as idols were placed after pooja and hence couldn’t be removed easily. Nair wrote in files that no pujari is ready to remove the idols, which are conducted as per certain rituals. Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in his book — Ayodhya December 6, 1992 — wrote that by these objections in files, K. K. Nair stopped the removal, leading to people in large numbers coming to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir, created inside the Babri Masjid. “As per your orders, I went to the spot and inspected the site, and enquired all about it in detail. The mosque and the temple are situated side by side and both Hindus and Muslims perform their rites and religious ceremonies. The Hindu public has put in this application to erect a decent and Vishal temple instead of the small one which exists at present. There is nothing on the way and permission can be given, as the Hindu population is very keen to have a nice temple at the place where Bhagwan Ram Chandra Ji was born. The land where the temple is to be erected is of Nazul [Government land],” says Singh’s report to Nair.

On December 23, 1949, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Govind Vallabh Pant, at the behest of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, ordered to expel the Hindus from the temple of Ram Lalla. But Faizabad District Collector K. K. Nair, refused to implement the order, pointing out that the real stakeholders were performing Pooja there and the move would lead to riots and bloodshed.

The fight between the two communities continued. A case was filed in the court and Hashim Ansari was made the advocate on the Muslim side. On 29th December,1949, Babri Mosque was declared as a disputed land and an order was issued and even Muslims were barred from entering into the mosque. The main door was closed. On the other hand, Hindus from were allowed to go inside, to have darshan of Ram Lalla. On 16th January 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad a member of Hindu Mahasabha filed a case asking for permission to worship and to not remove idols. In 1968, Nirmohi Akhada also demanded the land rights and filed a case.

Now begins the third phase of the journey, wherein 1884 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, power was transferred to her son Rajiv Gandhi. During this time, the demand for Ram Mandir again uprises in Ayodhya. In the same year, the Dharma Sansad of Vishwa Hindu Parishad had started a movement to liberate the Ram Janmabhoomi. From 1985, the Rath Yatras of Ram Janki starts and in the midst of all this, an incident happens which ignites the fire of temple movement. PM Rajiv Gandhi puts pressure on the CM of U.P. Veer Bahadur Singh to open the lock of Babri Mosque. Faizabad (now Ayodhya) Court ordered to open lock of mosque and pujas started happening in the mosque but the Muslims were still barred from doing Namaz inside the mosque.
The court appeal had created a chance for Vishwa Hindu Parishad to make this an emotional issue. They kept gathering more and more support from Hindu Community and a demand was made to free Ram lalla. In response to opening of locks, the Muslim Community had made an action committee and started raising their demands.

After opening of the locks it was time to worship Ram Shilas across country and bringing them to Ayodhya. Pressure started building on Rajiv Gandhi for Bhoomi Pujan, and he took the decision to let the Bhoomi Pujan happen, which was set for the morning hours of 9th November, 1989. This led to the violent clashes between the two communities in states of U.P., Bihar, M.P., Gujarat, Maharashtra etc. Hundreds of deaths were noted because of these tensions.
In August 1989, an order from Allahabad Court had come in midst of all this and an interim order was given in which it was said that the status quo should be maintained on the disputed property and should be maintained till the final decision is taken. Despite this, on 9th November 1949,The SHILANYAS — laying of the foundation stone — took place.

Then started the fourth and the most fierce phase. After laying the foundation for Mandir, the Karseva -Voluntarily Labour- was started, and Devottees and Karsevaks started reaching Ayodhya from all over the country. In 1990 Lal Krishna Advani the head of BJP started a rath yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya to gather more support for Ram Mandir.
Rath Yatra was successful from the viewpoint of the BJP, but on 23 October 1990, the C.M. of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav on the instructions of V.P. Singh halted the Yatra and arrested LK Advani. In protest against this, there started many violent clashes in the northern part of India which resulted in BJP withdrawing its support from the V.P. Singh led Government and the government thus collapsed. On 30th October 1990 while the Karsevaks were still arriving in the premises of the mosque despite a curfew in Ayodhya and when the situation went out of hand, the police opened fire on Karsevaks. Altogether 28 Karsevaks died and hundreds were injured. The death further inflamed the sentiments regarding Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

On the 6th of December, was the marking day of this journey, when the infamous incident where the Karsevaks proceeded towards the disputed structure. However this time, the U.P. Police decided not to repeat what had happened in 1990 and not to use the force. In just 100 to 120 minutes, the Babri Masjid was demolished and only the remains of the mosque can be seen. This was a great shock to Indian Secularism.
During this demolition, many leaders of BJP and VHP were present nearby and were appealing to exercise restraint to the Karsevaks. Subsequently large amounts of communal violence took place all over the country. The Mumbai Serial Blasts of 1993 and killings of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh were apparent repercussions.

Then comes the fifth and last phase of the journey. After the demolition of the Babri Mosque all attention went towards the action of the court which was to give the final decision. On 30th September 2010, the Allahabad High Court in its decision had given the verdict for 2.7 acres of disputed territory. One third share was given to Sunni Waqf Board, another one third to Nirmohi Akhara and the remaining one third to the Ram lalla Virajman. This was done to send a message that Ayodhya belongs to all the communities. But none of the parties agreed to this order and appealed in the Supreme Court.

After a long hearing in Supreme Court, it gave its final verdict on 9th November 2019. A bench of five judges headed by the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi gave the final verdict stating that the whole land of 2.7 acres was given to Ramlala Virajman and the government had been ordered to made a trust for constructing Ram Mandir. Land of 5 acres was given to Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya to built a Mosque. The decision of the bench which had members of all communities, was unanimous, and in this way, with the order of Supreme Court there paved a way for the construction of Shri Ram Mandir. This thus was landmark to highlight the power and authenticity of Indian Judiciary. The decision was welcomed by all the communities of India and with this one of the longest and most awaited case of India had been sought out after nearly 500 years.

Today, on the day of Pran Pratishta, once again Prabhu Shri Ram is coming to Ayodhya and is showing us the path of truth, dignity and strength.The Pran Pratishta is a ceremony which involves various rituals, including the chanting of Vedic mantras, performing pujas (ritual worship), invoking the presence of the deity, and symbolically transferring the life force (prana) into the idol. The process is conducted by qualified priests who follow traditional scriptures and guidelines for such ceremonies.
There are always many things that had happened in history which gives us pain, memories just stuck in our minds, but however we get the strength from the life of Ram.
Let us today, collectively pray to Prabhu Shri Ram for Desh and Dharma
Jay Shri Ram!

Yogesh M. Mundle, EC23I2016: I feel proud to be born in India, a land that gave birth to the slogan वसुधैव कुटुंबकम, a country full of diversity but strongly upholds its unity and the tradition it has maintained unhindered. I love to know more about amazing temples that were made with perfection in ancient era. I am trained in Kalaripayattu too. Whenever I see or hear music, dances, ragas and teachings, I feel them to be from my own heart.