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Babri Mosque
Babri Mosque
Babri Mosque
The Babri Mosque (Hindi: बाबरी मिसजद, Urdu: )بابری مسجد, Babri Masjid or Mosque of
Babur was a mosque in Ayodhya, a city in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh, on Ramkot
Hill ("Rama's fort"). It was destroyed in 1992 when a political rally developed into a riot
involving 150,000 people,[1] despite a commitment to the Indian Supreme Court by the rally
organisers that the mosque would not be harmed.[2][3] More than 2,000 people were killed in
ensuing riots in many major Indian cities including Mumbai and Delhi.[4] The mosque was
constructed in 1527 by order of Babur, the first Mughal emperor of India.[5][6] Before the
1940s, the mosque was called Masjid-i Janmasthan ("mosque of the birthplace")
acknowledging the site as the birthplace of the Hindu deity, Lord Rama.[7] The Babri Mosque
was one of the largest mosques in Uttar Pradesh, a state in India with some 31 million
Muslims.[8] Although there were several older mosques in the surrounding district, including
the Hazrat Bal Mosque constructed by the Shariqi kings, the Babri Mosque became the
largest, due to the importance of the disputed site. Despite its size and fame, the mosque was
little used by the Muslim community of the district and numerous petitions by Hindus to the
courts resulted in Hindu worshippers' of Rama gaining access to the site. 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
Debate.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Architecture of the mosque
○ 1.1 Babri Masjid acoustic and cooling system
○ 1.2 Legend of the Babri Mosque’s miraculous well
• 2 History
○ 2.1 Hindu account
○ 2.2 Jain account
○ 2.3 Muslim account
○ 2.4 British account
○ 2.5 Conflicts over the site
• 3 Archaeological Survey of India report
○ 3.1 Fallout
• 4 Demolition
○ 4.1 Liberhan Commission findings
• 5 In popular culture
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 Further reading
• 9 External links
Fallout
Muslims strongly criticized the report, claiming that it failed to mention any evidence of a
temple in its interim reports and only revealed it in the final report which was submitted
during a time of national tension, making the report highly suspect.[16]. This view was shared
by many Muslim religious groups including the Sunni Waqf Board and the All India Muslim
Personal Law Board.
Examining the ASI's conclusion of a mandir (Hindu temple) under the structure, the VHP and
the RSS stepped up demands for Muslims to restore the three holiest North Indian mandirs to
Hindus.[15]
Demolition
Main article: Demolition of Babri Masjid
On 16 December 1992, the Liberhan Commission was set up by the Government of India to
probe the circumstances that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It has been the longest
running commission in India's history with 48 extensions granted by various governments.
The commission submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 30 June 2009,
more than 16 years after the incident.[17]
Contents of the report were leaked to the news media in November 2009. The report blamed
the high-ranking members of the Indian government and Hindu nationalists for the
destruction of the mosque. Its contents caused uproar in the Indian parliament.
The Liberhan report has pieced together a sequence of events as they happened on December
6, 1992, the day the Babri Masjid was demolished by Kar Sevaks.
On that Sunday morning, LK Advani and others met at Vinay Katiyar's residence. They then
proceeded to the disputed structure, the report says. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and
Katiyar reached the puja platform where symbolic Kar Seva was to be performed, and
Advani and Joshi checked arrangements for the next 20 minutes. The two senior leaders then
moved 200 metre away to the Ram Katha Kunj. This was a building facing the disputed
structure where a dais had been erected for senior leaders.
At noon, a teenage Kar Sevak was "vaulted" on to the dome and that signaled the breaking of
the outer cordon. The report notes that at this time Advani, Joshi and Vijay Raje Scindia
made "feeble requests to the Kar Sevaks to come down... either in earnest or for the media's
benefit". No appeal was made to the Kar Sevaks not to enter the sanctum sanctorum or not to
demolish the structure. The report notes: "This selected act of the leaders itself speaks of the
hidden intentions of one and all being to accomplish demolition of the disputed structure."
The report holds that the "icons of the movement present at the Ram Katha Kunj... could just
as easily have... prevented the demolition." [18]
Liberhan Commission findings
Main article: Liberhan Commission Findings
Kalyan Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh during the mosque’s demolition,
has come in for harsh criticism in the report. He is accused of posting bureaucrats and police
officers who would stay silent during the mosque’s demolition in Ayodhya.
Former Prime Minister of India Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Former Deputy Prime Minister and
Former Chairman of the opposition Mr. Lalkrishna Advani and Former Education Minister in
NDA Government Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi have also been found culpable in the demolition
in the Liberhan Commissions' Report. Anju Gupta, an Indian police officer appeared as a
prosecution witness. She was in charge of Advani's security on the day of the demolition and
she revealed that Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi made inflammatory speeches.[19]
In popular culture
In fiction, Lajja, a controversial 1993 novel in Bengali by
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, has a story based in the
days after the demolition. After its release, the author Ayodhya debate
received death threats in her home country and has been Demolition of Babri Masjid
living in exile ever since. Babri Masjid
Ram Janmabhoomi
The events that transpired in aftermath of the demolition
Archaeology
and the riots are an important part of the plot of the films 2005 Ram Janmabhoomi attack
Bombay (1995), Daivanamathil (2005), both the films won Liberhan Commission
the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National People and organizations
Integration at the respective National Film Awards; Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Naseem (1995), Striker (2010), and also mentioned in L. K. Advani
Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Murli Manohar Joshi
See also Kalyan Singh
AIBMAC
Babur
• Ram Janmabhoomi
Bharatiya Janata Party
• Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into Koenraad Elst
mosques
• All India Babri Masjid Action Committee
• Indian secularism
• In fiction: Bombay
• Bombay Riots
References
1. ^ Babri mosque demolition case hearing today. Yahoo News - September 18, 2007
2. ^ Tearing down the Babri Masjid - Eye Witness BBC's Mark Tully BBC - Thursday, 5
December 2002, 19:05 GMT
3. ^ Babri Masjid demolition was planned 10 months in advance - PTI
4. ^ The Ayodhya dispute. BBC News. November 15, 2004.
5. ^ Flint, Colin (2005). The geography of war and peace. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 9780195162080. http://books.google.com/books?id=7Ms5N7NhGXIC&pg=PA165.
6. ^ Vitelli, Karen (2006). Archaeological ethics (2 ed.). Rowman Altamira.
ISBN 9780759109636. http://books.google.com/books?id=LTW1Rf-NfJsC&pg=PA104.
7. ^ Sayyid Shahabuddin Abdur Rahman, Babri Masjid, 3rd print, Azamgarh: Darul Musannifin
Shibli Academy, 1987, pp. 29-30.
8. ^ Indian Census
9. ^ "Babri Mosjid -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Encyclopædia. Encyclopædia
Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/47510/Babri-Mosjid. Retrieved
2008-07-02.
10.^ Sharma, Religious policy of the Mughal Emperors, page 9
11.^ http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=19686
12.^ http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?224878
13.^ Ratnagar, Shereen (2004) "CA Forum on Anthropology in Public: Archaeology at the Heart
of a Political Confrontation: The Case of Ayodhya" Current Anthropology 45(2): pp. 239-
259, p. 239
14.^ Prasannan, R. (7 September 2003) "Ayodhya: Layers of truth" The Week (India), from Web
Archive
15.^ a b Suryamurthy, R. (August 2003) "ASI findings may not resolve title dispute" The Tribune
- August 26, 2003
16.^ Muralidharan, Sukumar (September 2003) "Ayodhya: Not the last word yet" The Hindu
20(19):
17.^ Press Trust of India (June 30, 2009). Babri Masjid case: Liberhan Commission submits
report to PM. Business Standard.
18.^ http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/report_sequence_of_events_on_december_6.php
19.^ In the dock, again, Frontline
Further reading
• Ram Sharan Sharma. Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, People's Publishing
House (PPH), 2nd Revised Edition, September, 1999, Delhi. Translated into Bengali,
Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Two versions in Bengali.
• Puniyani, Ram. Communal Politics: Myths Versus Facts. Sage Publications Inc, 2003
• Bacchetta, Paola. "Sacred Space in Conflict in India: The Babri Masjid Affair."
Growth & Change. Spring2000, Vol. 31, Issue 2.
• 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. ISBN 81-86041-02-8 hb ISBN 81-86041-03-6 pb
• Elst, Koenraad. 1991. Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society. 1991. New
Delhi: Voice of India. [1]
• Emmanuel, Dominic. 'The Mumbai bomb blasts and the Ayodhya tangle', National
Catholic Reporter (Kansas City, August 27, 2003).
• Sita Ram Goel: Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them, Voice of India, Delhi
1991. [2] [3]
• 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. [4]
• Romey, Kristin M., "Flashpoint Ayodhya." Archaeology Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 57, Issue
4.
• Romila Thapar. 'A Historical Perspective on the Story of Rama' in Thapar (2000).
• Ayodhya ka Itihas evam Puratattva — Rigveda kal se ab tak (‘History and
Archaeology of Ayodhya — From the Time of the Rigveda to the Present’) by Thakur
Prasad Varma and Swarajya Prakash Gupta. Bharatiya Itihasa evam Samskrit
Parishad and DK Printworld. New Delhi.
• Ayodhya 6 December 1992 (ISBN 0-670-05858-0) by P. V. Narasimha Rao
External links
• Report of Liberhan Enquiry Commission on Demolition of Babri Masjid
• Advani charged with Ayodhya riots - BBC News
• Mumbai riots of 1992-93: Letting sleeping dogs lie
• Holy work destroys peace in India - Time Magazine
• The wrath of Rama - Time Magazine
• 'Timeline: Ayodhya crisis', BBC News (October 17, 2003). Retrieved June 21, 2005
• 'Q&A: The Ayodhya dispute', BBC News (November 15, 2004). Retrieved June 21,
2005
• The Demolition Video,From Youtube
Research Papers
• Ayodhya and Politics of Indian Secularism
• Political Implications of Babri Masjid Demolition
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