Ram Janm bhoomi

Ram Janmabhoomi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the hypothesized birthplace of Rama. For the debate on whether a temple
existed at Babri Masjid site or not, see Ayodhya dispute.

Ram Janmabhoomi
Ram Janmabhoomi

Ram Janmabhoomi (Uttar Pradesh)

The location of the disputed site

Location Ayodhya

Region Uttar Pradesh

26.7956°N 82.1943°ECoordinates: 26.7956°N

Coordinates
82.1943°E

Site notes

Ownership Disputed

Ayodhya dispute

 Archaeology of Ayodhya
 Babri Masjid
 Demolition of the Babri Masjid
 Ram Janmabhoomi
 2005 Ram Janmabhoomi attack

Organizations

 Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha

 Vishva Hindu Parishad
 Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas
 Bharatiya Janata Party
 Liberhan Commission
  Nirmohi Akhara
 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
 Sunni Waqf Board

People

 Babur
 Ashok Singhal
 Atal Bihari Vajpayee
 L. K. Advani
 Kalyan Singh
 Murli Manohar Joshi
 Uma Bharti

 v
 t
 e

Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the name given to the site that
many Hindus believe to be the birthplace of Rama, the 7th avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu.

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The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the banks of the Sarayu river
in the city of Ayodhya. A section of Hindus claim that the exact site of Rama's birthplace is where
the Babri Masjid once stood in the present-day Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. According to this theory,
the Mughals demolished a Hindu shrine that marked the spot, and constructed a mosque in its
place. People opposed to this theory state that such claims arose only in the 18th century, and
that there is no evidence for the spot being the birthplace of Rama.
The political, historical and socio-religious debate over the history and location of the Babri
Mosque, and whether a previous temple was demolished or modified to create it, is known as
the Ayodhya dispute.
In 1992, the demolition of Babri Masjid by Hindu nationalists triggered widespread Hindu-Muslim
violence. Since then, the archaeological excavations have indicated the presence of a temple
beneath the mosque rubble.
Several other sites, including places in other parts of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal,
have been proposed as birthplaces of Rama.

Contents
[hide]

 1Babri Masjid site

o 1.1Opposition to the claim
o 1.2Proposed Ram Janmabhoomi temple
 2Other places
 3See also
 4References
 5Bibliography
 6Further reading

Babri Masjid site[edit]

Further information: Baqi Tashqandi
The Ramayana, a Hindu epic whose earliest portions date back to 1st millennium BCE, states
that the capital of Rama was Ayodhya.[1] A section of Hindus claim that the site of the now-
demolished Babri Mosque in Ayodhya is the exact birthplace of Rama. The mosque is believed
to have been constructed during 1528-29 by a certain 'Mir Baqi' (possibly Baqi Tashqandi), who
was a commander of the Mughal emperor Babur.[2]However, the historical evidence for these
beliefs is scant.[3]
In 1611, an English traveller William Finch visited Ayodhya and recorded the "ruins of the
Ranichand [Ramachand] castle and houses". He made no mention of a mosque.[4] In
1634, Thomas Herbert described a "pretty old castle of Ranichand [Ramachand]" which he
described as an antique monument that was "especially memorable".[5] However, by 1672, the
appearance of a mosque at the site can be inferred because Lal Das's Awadh-Vilasa describes
the location of birthplace without mentioning a temple.[6] In 1717, the Moghul Rajput noble Jai
Singh II purchased land surrounding the site and his documents show a mosque.[7] The Jesuit
missionary Joseph Tiefenthaler, who visited the site during 1766-1771, wrote that
either Aurangazeb 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 Rama.[8] In 1810, Francis Buchanan visited the site, and stated that the structure
destroyed was a temple dedicated to Rama, not a house. Many subsequent sources state that
the mosque was constructed after demolishing a temple.[8]
Police officer and writer Kishore Kunal states that all the claimed inscriptions on the Babri
mosque were fake. They were affixed sometime around 1813 (almost 285 years after the
supposed construction of the mosque in 1528 AD), and repeatedly replaced.[9]
Before the 1940s, the Babri Masjid was called Masjid-i-Janmasthan ("mosque of the birthplace"),
including in the official documents such as revenue records.[10][11] Shykh Muhammad Azamat Ali
Kakorawi Nami (1811–1893) wrote: "the Babari mosque was built up in 923(?) A.H. under the
patronage of Sayyid Musa Ashiqan in the Janmasthan temple in Faizabad-Avadh, which was a
great place of (worship) and capital of Rama’s father"[12]
H.R. Neville, the editor of the Faizabad District Gazetteer (1870), wrote that the Janmasthan
temple "was destroyed by Babur and replaced by a mosque." He also wrote "The Janmasthan
was in Ramkot and marked the birthplace of Rama. In 1528 A.D. Babur came to Ayodhya and
halted here for a week. He destroyed the ancient temple and on its site built a mosque, still
known as Babur's mosque. The materials of the old structure [i.e., the temple] were largely
employed, and many of the columns were in good preservation."[13][14]
Opposition to the claim[edit]
See also: Ayodhya dispute
A section of historians, such as R. S. Sharma, state that such claims of Babri Masjid site being
the birthplace of Rama sprang up only after the 18th century.[8] 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 centre. For example, chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists 52 places of
pilgrimage, which do not include Ayodhya.[15] Sharma also notes that Tulsidas, who wrote
the Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of
pilgrimage.[1] Rambhadracharya, on the other hand, has quoted a work of Tulsidas known as
Dohā Śataka and is recorded in Allahbad High Court's verdict which clearly states the demolition
of a temple, and building of a mosque.[citation needed]
Many critics also claim that the present-day Ayodhya was originally a Buddhist site, based on its
identification with Saketa described in Buddhist texts. According to historian Romila Thapar,
ignoring the Hindu mythological accounts, the first historic mention of the city dates back to the
7th century, when the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described it as a Buddhist site.[16]
Proposed Ram Janmabhoomi temple[edit]
See also: Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas
In 1853, a group of armed Hindu ascetics belonging to the Nirmohi Akhara occupied the Babri
Masjid site, and claimed ownership of the structure.[17] Subsequently, the civil administration
stepped in, and in 1855, divided the mosque premises into two parts: one for Hindus, and the
other for Muslims.[18]
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 favour of status quo. In December 1949, some
Hindus placed idols of Rama and Sita in the mosque, and claimed that they had miraculously
appeared there. As thousands of Hindu devotees started visiting the place, the Government
declared the mosque a disputed area and locked its gates. Subsequently, multiple lawsuits from
Hindus, asking for permission to convert the site into a place of worship.[18]
In the 1980s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Hindu nationalist groups and political
parties launched a campaign to construct the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir ("Rama birthplace
temple") at the site. The Rajiv Gandhi government allowed Hindus to access the site for
prayers.[19] On 6 December 1992, Hindu nationalists demolished the mosque, resulting in
communal riots leading to over 2,000 deaths.[20]
In 2003, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted excavations of the site on court
orders.[21] The ASI report indicated the presence of a 10th-century temple under the
mosque.[22] Muslim groups and the historians supporting them disputed these findings, and
dismissed them as politically motivated.[23][24] The Allahabad High Court, however, upheld the
ASI's findings.[25] In 2010, Court ruled that the 2.77 acres (1.12 ha) of Ayodhya land be divided
into 3 parts, with 1/3 going to the Ram Lalla or Infant Lord Rama represented by the Hindu Maha
Sabha for the construction of the Ram temple, 1/3 going to the Islamic Sunni Waqf Board and the
remaining 1/3 going to a Hindu religious denomination Nirmohi Akhara.[26] The excavations by
the Archaeological Survey of India were heavily used as evidence by the court that the predating
structure was a massive Hindu religious building.[27]
In 2009, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its election manifesto, repeating its promise
to construct a temple to Rama at the site.[28][29]

Other places[edit]
Those who believe that Rama was a historic figure, place his birth before 1000 BCE. However,
the archaeological excavations at Ayodhya have not revealed any settlement before that date.
Consequently, a number of other places have been suggested as the birthplace of Rama.[1]
In November 1990, the newly appointed Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar made an attempt to
resolve the Ayodhya dispute amicably. Towards this objective, he asked Hindu and Muslim
groups to exchange evidence on their claims over Ayodhya. The panel representing the Muslim
organization Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) was included R. S. Sharma, D. N. Jha, M.
Athar Ali and Suraj Bhan. The evidence presented by them included scholarly articles discussing
alternative theories about the birthplace of Rama. These sources mentioned 8 different possible
birthplaces, including a site other than Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Nepal and Afghanistan. One
source claimed that Rama was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt.[10]
In his 1992 book Ancient geography of Ayodhya, historian Shyam Narain Pande argued that
Rama was born around present-day Herat in Afghanistan.[30] In 1997, Pande presented his theory
in the paper "Historical Rama distinguished from God Rama" at the 58th session of the Indian
History Congress in Bangalore. In 2000, Rajesh Kochhar similarly traced the birthplace of Rama
to Afghanistan, in his book The Vedic People: Their History and Geography. According to him,
the Harriud river of Afghanistan is the original "Sarayu", and Ayodhya was located on its banks.[31]
In 1998, archaeologist Krishna Rao put forward his hypothesis about Banawali being Rama's
birthplace. Banawali is an Indus-Sarasvati civilization archaeological site located in
the Haryana state of India. Rao identified Rama with the Sumerian king Rim-Sin I and his
rival Ravana with the Babylonian king Hammurabi. He claimed to have deciphered Indus seals
found along the Sarasvati rivers, and found the words "Rama Sena" (Rim-Sin) and "Ravani
dama" on those seals. He rejected Ayodhya as the birthplace of Rama, on the grounds that
Ayodhya and other Ramayana sites excavated by B. B. Lal do not show evidence of settlements
before 1000 BCE. He also claimed that the writers of the later epics and the Puranas got
confused because the ancient Indo-Aryans applied their ancient place names to the new place
names as they migrated eastwards.[32]
In 2015, Abdul Rahim Quraishi of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), argued
that Rama was born somewhere in present-day northwestern India or Pakistan. In his book Facts
of Ayodhya Episode (Myth of Ram Janmabhoomi), he cited writings of former ASI official Jassu
Ram, who argued that Rehman Dheri was the birthplace of Rama. Rehman Dheri is located
near Dera Ismail Khan in present-day Pakistan, and was earlier called "Ram Dheri" according to
Jassu Ram.[33] Quraishi argued that the present-day Ayodhya was originally called Saket, and
Hindus probably renamed it to "Ayodhya" in the 11th century CE.[34]

See also[edit]
 Ram Karmabhoomi
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ram Sharan Sharma (2003). "The Ayodhya Issue". In Robert Layton and Julian
Thomas. Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property. Routledge. pp. 127–
137. ISBN 9781134604982.
2. Jump up^ Noorani, A. G. (2003), The Babri Masjid Question, 1528-2003, Volume 1, Tulika
Books, Introduction (p. xvii), ISBN 81-85229-78-3, It asserts that the Mughal Emperor Babar's
Governor at Awadh, Mir Baqi Tashqandi, built the Babri Masjid (mosque) at Ayodhya ... The
mosque was built in 1528 ...
3. Jump up^ Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited (2016), Chapter 6.
4. Jump up^ Jain, Rama and Ayodhya (2013), p. 9, 120, 164.
5. Jump up^ Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited (2016), p. xv.
6. Jump up^ Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited (2016), p. xxvii.
7. Jump up^ Jain, Rama and Ayodhya (2013), pp. 112-115.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Robert Layton and Julian Thomas (2003). Destruction and Conservation of
Cultural Property. Routledge. pp. 2–9. ISBN 9781134604982.
9. Jump up^ Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited (2016), p. 143.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b K. Elst (1995). Gilbert Pollet, ed. Indian Epic Values: Rāmāyaṇa and Its Impact.
Peeters. pp. 21–40. ISBN 9789068317015.
11. Jump up^ K. Jaishankar (2009). "Communal Violence and Terrorism in India: Issues and
Introspections". In Yakov Gilinskiy; Thomas Albert Gilly; Vladimir Sergevnin. The Ethics of
Terrorism. Charles C Thomas. pp. 25–26. ISBN 9780398079956.
12. Jump up^ Shykh Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami, Muraqqah-i Khusrawi or Tarikh-i Avadh cited
by Harsh Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New
Delhi, Penman Publications. ISBN 81-85504-16-4. Pages 9-10.
13. Jump up^ H.R. Neville, Fyzabad District Gazetteer, Lucknow, 1905, pp 172–177) cited by Harsh
Narain The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources, 1993, New Delhi,
Penman Publications. ISBN 81-85504-16-4
14. Jump up^ (H.R. Neville in the Barabanki District Gazetteer, Lucknow, 1905, pp 168–169)
15. Jump up^ Sikand, Yoginder (5 August 2006). "Ayodhya's Forgotten Muslim Past". Counter
Currents. Retrieved 12 January 2008.
16. Jump up^ Thapar 2003, A historical perspective on the story of Rama
17. Jump up^ Roma Chatterji (2014). Wording the World: Veena Das a