Edited by Deepali Verma
Varanasi district court allowed the Hindu side to offer prayers at ‘Vyas Ka Tehkhana’ located in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. “The District Administration will have to accommodate arrangements within 7 days as the Puja will start within seven days. Everyone will have the right to perform Puja,”as quoted by ANI of Hindu side Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain. In the interim, the Muslim side has decided to challenge the district court verdict in the high court.
Previously, the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi mosque dispute had moved the top court to de-seal the ‘wazukhana’ area, where it is believed that a ‘Shivling’ is located, after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) uncovered evidence of a pre-existing Hindu temple in the complex.
‘Wazukhana’ Sealed By Supreme Court Order
The ‘wazukhana’, that is the place where Muslims perform ablution before offering prayers, was sealed by the Supreme Court in 2022, owing to the pending ASI’s survey of the mosque premises. The Hindu side, as represented by advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, was responsible for filing an application to lift the stay order and permit the ASI to conduct a different survey in the ‘wazukhana’ area, without damaging the ‘Shivling’.
Jain voiced that the ASI should be given permission to study the ‘wazukhana’ area because it is crucial to find whether it is a fountain or a ‘Shivling’.
ASI Survey Finds Evidence of Hindu Temple
The survey of ASI of the Gyanvapi mosque complex began on August 4, 2023, once the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition of the Muslim litigants, who were seeking a stay on the Varanasi court’s order for a scientific survey by the ASI. The ASI team employed the ground-penetrating radar and other scientific instruments to examine what was present beneath the surface of the mosque premises. The team additionally surveyed the inner and outer walls, the cellar as well as other parts of the complex, except the ‘wazukhana’.
On January 27, 2024, Jain claimed that the ASI report, running across the length of 800 pages, confirms that the Gyanvapi mosque was built upon destroying a Hindu temple in the 17th century. The report further mentioned finding ancient scriptures in Kannada, Devanagari and Telugu languages in the mosque premises, that have relations to Rudra, Janardan and Vishweshwar. He stated that the pillars of the demolished temple were used to construct the mosque.
ASI Report Says Hindu Temple Existed
The ASI report, submitted to the Varanasi court, details a pre-existing structure that was destroyed in the 17th century, during Aurangzeb’s reign, and “part of it was modified and reused” in the existing structure. The report, backed by scientific studies, says that there “existed a large Hindu temple before the construction of the existing structure.”
The ASI report points out that the “western wall of the existing structure is the remaining part of a pre-existing Hindu temple”. The report quoted an Arabic-Persian inscription found inside a room, which reveals the mosque’s construction took place in the 20th regnal year of Aurangzeb (1676-77 CE).
“Therefore, the pre-existing structure seems to have been destroyed in the 17th century, during Aurangzeb’s reign, where part of it was modified and reused in the existing structure. Based on scientific studies/surveys carried out, study of architectural remains, exposed features and artefacts, inscriptions, art and sculptures, it is safe to say that there existed a Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure,” the ASI report said.
