The History of Ram Janmabhoomi Struggle

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi:

Lord Shri Ram, who is the reference for “Maryada Purushottam” and showed the world how to
live, was born in Ayodhya currently situated in Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh state.

This place is sacredly and famously knows as “Shri Ram Janmabhoomi” which is situated on the
banks of river “Sarayu”. This place has been one of the main pilgrimage for all Hindus / Indians.

It is believed that Maharaja Kush, the son of Lord Shri Ram built a “Divya” and “Bhavya” temple
on the holy birth place of Lord Shri Ram with the help of sculptor Vishwakarma. The glory of the temple
was further enhanced by Kings of “Sooryavamsha”.

Prehistory:

The “Bhavya” Ram Mandir built by Maharaja Kush at the birth place of Lord Shri Ram was intact
until the 44th generation King, Bruhadbala of “Sooryavamsha”. After Bruhadbala attained “veerswarga”
in the battle of Kurukshetra the deterioration of Shri Ram Mandir started.

After the death of bhagavan Budha, Mihiragupta built a temple of Budha from the remnants of
Shri Ram Mandir which later turned into a huge forest due to negligence of future generations.

After a long gap with the advice of King of Prayag, “Raja Vikramaditya” of Avanti identified the
holy place of Ram Janmabhoomi in the middle of thick forest where “Gaumata” (Cow) did “Pradakshina”
and “Ksheerabhishek” voluntarily. After excavation of the place, he found stone pillars of great
craftsmanship. He also found inscriptions in the form of Sanskrit shlokas written in “Devanagari” lipi.
King Vikramaditya attained glory by renovating this temple and the city of Ayodhya. (This is illustrated
in “DharmaraNya mahaatme” of skanda puraNa.

History:

After the defeat of King Prithviraj in the historic battle of Panipat, the muslim invaders robbed
the Shri Ram Mandir of Ayodhya. They massacred the priests by slitting their throats and took away the
valuables from the temple. However, they spared the temple and the “Divya Vigraha” (the idol).

In 14th century the muslim invader Babar captured Delhi which marked the beginning of
atrocities of Mughals in the country.

During this time, a sadhu named “Mahatma Shyamanand” was living in Shri Ram Janmabhoomi.
He was a person with true indiscrimination towards people and treated everyone equally irrespective of
their caste, creed and social status. People were highly influenced by him this also included a muslim
named “Shwaja Shajal Abbas Musa Ashikan” who became Shyamanand ji’s disciple.

The beginning of the Problem with Babar:

At the same time, a muslim Fakir “Jalal Shah” got to know about Mahatma Shyamanad ji and
Shri Ram Janmabhoomi. He also became one of disciple but with ill-intentions of converting the place
into “mini-Mecca”. He decides to make many “Rasool” (Islamic Prophets Homestay) at Shri Ram
Janmabhoomi. As a result of this, in the pious environment of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, thousands of
muslim dead bodies from other countries were intentionally brought and buried. This information spread
across entire Mughal community which resulted in converting this holy land into a graveyard.

These atrocities by sectarian Mughals made Hindu community to fume against such wickedness
in the name of religion, but Shyamanand ji tolerated silently as the “Bhavya” Shri Ram Mandir was still
standing tall with all its glory. This made muslim invaders to feel jealous to the extent that they decided
to demolish the temple and build a masjid with the remnants in that very place to stamp the permanent
mark of muslims in the holy land of Bharata.
The imminent of End:

During the same period, the history witnessed the battle between the King of Udaipur, Maharana
Sangram Singh and Babar in “Fatehpur sikri” near Agra in which Maharana Sangram singh defeated
Babar and made run back to Delhi.

After this defeat, Babar was finding ways to take the revenge and heard about two “Fakirs”,
Jalal Shah and Abbas Musa of Ayodhya. With their blessings Babar again attacked “Fatehpur sikri” this
time with 6 Lakh troops and modern arms and munitions. With this unexpected attack, Maharana
Sangram Singh with his 60 thousand “Veer Sainiks” fought the battle courageously. But the huge
difference in army men Maharana Sangram Singh lost the battle. [Note: at the end of the battle 600
sainiks were alive from Maharana Sangram Singh’s army, but only 90,000 mughal army was left with
lives. This is at a ratio of almost 1:9. Such was the bravery of Maharana Sangram Singh’s army].

With this victory, Babar believed that this was due the blessings of “Fakirs” of Ayodhya, he came
to Ayodhya to honor them. Fakir Jalal Shah misused this belief of Babar and encouraged him to demolish
the Shri Ram Mandir and build a masjid in that place. Agreeing to this, Babar assigned this cruel task
to Mir Banki Khan and went back to Delhi.

Mir Banki Khan and his army under the guidance from Jalal Shah surrounded the Shri Ram
Mandir. They closed the doors, captured the saints and slit their throats. The army used artillery for
several days to bring down the “Bhavya” Shri Ram Mandir. Along with this, they also showed their
cruelty by killing thousands of unarmed Hindus.

Sita Pak-Sthan (holy place):

After the prolonged efforts of demolition, the construction of masjid started with the invaluable
remnants of Shri Ram Mandir. But to the surprise of everyone, the walls constructed used to fall
automatically after the sun set. With continued efforts along with the exercitation of Fakir Jalal Shah
failed, finally they had to call Babar from Delhi, but for little success.

Later they cajoled “Hindu Sadhus” and asked them the reason. Sadhus with their knowledge
informed that, it was Shri Ram Bhakta, Hanumanta who was not letting this happen. As a trick Sadhus
suggested,

 To call the masjid as Sita Pak-Sthan (holy place)

 The building should not be of masjid architecture
 Removal of constructed “minars” (towers)
 Allow Hindus to recite bhajans, conduct Pooja and other rituals independently

With these suggestions, minars were removed and the place name (Sita Pak-Sthan) was written on
main door. Also muslims were allowed to do namaz only on Friday and rest of the days were allocated
to Hindus for their bhajan and Pooja. With these measures it is believed that the obstacles were
overcome and building construction completed.

Temple turning into Mosque:

With the presence of Muslims in the building, slowly Hindus were reluctant to perform bhajan or
Pooja. Also, the absence of divine Lord Shri Ram idol Hindus did not liked to perform all their rituals.
Knowing this Babar did not allow idol in the building. This forced the building to become only masjid
eventually.

History has witnessed many proofs of the protest from Hindus against the Shri Ram Mandir
demolition and building of the masjid. Famous western scholar and historian Conning Hume has written
in Lucknow Gazetteers 36th edition 3rd page that “The Hindus fought until their last breath opposing the
demolition of the Shri Ram Mandir at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi. Around 1,74,000 Hindus were massacred
before the temple was destroyed under the leadership of Babar’s minister Mir Banki Khan.

Hindus from outside of Ayodhya were prevented from entering the city by Mughal. Any Hindu
suspected of entering Ayodhya were immediately arrested and imprisoned as per the Mughal rule (the
same was repeated by Mulayam Singh (infamously known as Mulla Mulayam for the same) government
in independent India).
 Babar himself has mentioned in his book “Babarnama”’s 173rd page that “as per the orders from
Hazrat Kajal Abbas Musa Ashikan Kalandar Saheb, I destroyed the temple at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi
and build a masjid using its remnants.

Fights during Humayun, Akbar:

After the conversion of Shri Ram Mandir to masjid at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi there has been
continuous struggle to reclaim the holy land. During Humayun’s reign, around 10000 Kshatriya
Suryavamshis Ayodhya came together to liberate the holy land of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi. They
destroyed local Muslim officers’ residences, army camps and wrecked masjid’s main entrance. However
on the third day of the battle, muslim army along with their modern weapons attacked these Kshatriyas,
killed them and burnt their villages. The descendants of Suryavamshi Kshatriyas pledged that they will
not wear Rumal (pagadi) on their head, footwear and use an umbrella until Shri Ram Janmabhoomi is
restored. Till today it is being strictly followed by these descendants.

During the time of Akbar, again Suryavamshis united and fought with Moghuls. Hundreds of
them lost their lives. After this news reached Delhi, Birbal and Todaramalla who were ministers off
Akbar, requested Akbar to create a peaceful environment between the two communities. By then Hindus
captured the masjid and build a stage in front of masjid and started chanting Shri Ram Bhajans. Upon
reaching Ayodhya and keenly observing the situation, Akbar called for bilateral talks. He ordered that
Hindus can install the idol of Lord Shri Ram and perform rituals which muslims should not object. This
information is written in his autobiography “Diwan Akbari”. This continued even after Akbar’s period till
Jehagir and Shahajahan.

Wickedness of Aurangjeb:

In 1640, after the wicked Aurangjeb acquired the control of Delhi after killing his brothers and
imprisoning his father, his attention shifted towards Ayodhya. Hearing that the masjid is sidelined in
Ayodhya, he sent his army led by Jawaj Khan. But the disciples of Shri Samartha Ramadas united with
surrounding villagers and with their unique weapon Chimta fought the battle and forced the moghal
army to run away.

This defeat irked Aurangjeb so much that he removed Jawaj Khan as his army general and
appointed Syed Hasan Ali. He again sent 50000 armed troops to demolish the stage on which Shri Ram
was worshipped.

Guru Govind Singh as the protector of the Temple:

Expecting backlash from Aurangjeb, the Sadhu leader Mahatma Vaishnava Das wrote a secret
letter to Sikh Guru Sri Guru Govind Singh describing the situation. Responding to this, Guru Govind
Singh along with his powerful Sikh army came to Ayodhya and extended his support to Shri Vaishnava
Das. He stayed at a place called Brahma Kund on the banks of river Sarayu.

Moghal army first encountered Kshatriyas near Rudowli. As planned before, Kshtriyas pretended
as defeated and silently joined Sikh army. Feeling victorious, moghal army proceeded towards Ayodhya.
As they neared Shahadatganj, they were attacked by the ferocious Sikh army from the front and by the
Hindu army from the other end. Sikh army marched towards moghal artilleries and captured them.
Moghals ran away as they could not withstand this well-planned attack. After such a defeat, Aurangjeb
did not dare to think about Ayodhya for next 4 years.

In the remembrance of this help from Sikh Guru Sri Guru Govind Saheb, a gurudwara is built in
Brahmakund which exists even today.

In 1664, Aurangjeb again attacked Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and defeated Hindu army. But with
the efforts of priests, the holy idol of Shri Ram was saved. However, about 10,000 Hindus were killed in
this battle and their bodies thrown in the holy pond, Kandarpa. Walls were built around the pond and
was named as “Ganjeshahida”.
Clandestine of British:

During First Freedom Fight of 1857, muslims under the leadership of Amir Ale, voluntarily came
forward to hand over Shri Ram Janmabhoomi to Hindus. Amir Ale was fondly influenced by the kind act
of Hindus where they fought against British in support of muslims. Sighting this union of Hindu and
muslims as a threat to them, the British captured leaders of either side, Swami Ram Charandas and
Amir Ale and hanged them to a holy tamarind tree on 18 March 1858 near “Kubertila”. Couple of
struggles were also recorded in the history during British rule to liberate Shri Ram Janmabhoomi. One
in 1912 and another in 1934.

First struggle post-Independence:

The negligence of Government to restore Shri Ram Janmabhoomi even after independence
tested the patience of Hindus. Under the leadership of Poojya Vijanath ji of Gouraksha peeth installed
the holy idol of “Ram Lalla” on the midnight of 23rd December 1949 and started chanting bhajan,
keertan and other rituals. But, then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Govind Vallabh Pant, at the behest of
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, ordered to expel the Hindus from the temple of Ram Lalla. But Faizabad
District Collector KK 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. Following the incident, Govind
Vallabh Pant suspended KK Nair from the service. But Nair fought the Congress Government at court
and managed to get an order in his favor.

The legal struggle through Court: (The below table is sourced from Wikipedia)

1961 Case filed in Indian courts against forceful occupation of the Babri Mosque and placing of idols within it.

The movement to build a temple at the site, which Hindus claimed was the birthplace of Lord Ram,
1984 gathered momentum when Hindu groups formed a committee to spearhead the construction of a
temple at the Ramjanmabhoomi site.

A district judge ordered the gates of the mosque to be opened after 37 years (see 1949 above) and
allowed Hindus to worship inside the "disputed structure". A Babri Mosque Action Committee was
1986
formed as Muslims protested the move to allow Hindu prayers at the site. The gates were opened in
less than an hour after the court decision.

The clamour for building a Ram temple was growing. In February, VHP proclaimed that a Shila or a
stone will be established for construction of temple near the area. In November, the Vishwa Hindu
1989 Parishad laid foundations of a temple on land adjacent to the "disputed structure" in presence of Home
Minister Boota Singh and then Chief Minister ND Tiwari. There were sporadic clashes in the country
such as Bhagalpur in Bihar.

V P Singh became the Prime Minister of India with support of BJP which had won 58 seats in the
election, a massive improvement from its last tally of 2 seats. The then BJP president Lal Krishna
Advani took out a cross-country rathyatra to garner support for the move to build a Ram temple at the
site. On 23 October, he was arrested in Bihar during the yatra, following which BJP took back its
1990
support to the government. Chandrashekhar became the Prime Minister of India with support of the
Congress. On 30 October, many were gunned down by the police on orders of the then Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, when they gathered in Ayodhya as participants of the Rath-
Yatra; their bodies were thrown in the river Saryu.

Congress came to power at center after elections in 1991, while BJP became major opposition party in
center and came to power in many states such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. Kalyan Singh became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. State government acquired
1991 2.77 acre land in the area and gave it on lease to RamJanmBhoomi Nyas Trust. The Allahbad High
Court stopped any permanent construction activity in the area. Kalyan Singh publicly supported the
movement while Central Government took no action to curb the increasing tensions. In spite of the
High Court judgement, disputed area was leveled.
Kalyan Singh took steps to support the movement such as making entry into area easier, promising no
firing on Karsevaks, opposing decision of central government to send Central Police force in the area,
etc. In July, several thousand Karsevaks assembled in the area and the work for maintenance of
temple started. This activity was stopped after intervention of the prime minister. Meetings started
between Babri Masjid Action Committee and VHP leaders in presence of the home minister. On 30
October, Dharam Sansad of VHP proclaimed in Delhi that the talks have failed and Karseva will
1992
presume from 6 December. Central Government was considering the deployment of central police
forces in the area and dissolution of state government but in the end decided against it. The case was
being heard in the Supreme Court which told that State Government is responsible for ensuring law
and order in the area. The government was discussing it in Cabinet Committee meeting and Rashtriya
Ekta Parishad. BJP boycotted the Parishad. The Allahbad High Court was hearing the matter of legality
of structure of foundation laid in 1989.
 The Babri Mosque was demolished by a gathering of near 200,000 Karsevaks. Communal riots across
1992 6 December
India followed.

Ten days after the demolition, the Congress government at the Centre, headed by PV Narasimha Rao,
1992 16 December
set up a commission of inquiry under Justice Liberhan.

Three months after being constituted, the Liberhan Commission began investigations into who and
1993
what led to the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
Tensions rose on the anniversary of the demolition of the mosque as the VHP reaffirmed its resolve to
2001
build a temple at the site.
At least 58 people were killed in Godhra, Gujarat, in an attack on a train believed to be carrying Hindu
2002 27 February volunteers from Ayodhya. Riots followed in the state and over 2000 people were unofficially reported
to have died in these.

The court ordered a survey to find out whether a temple to Lord Ram existed on the site. In August,
2003
the survey presented evidence of a temple under the mosque. Muslim groups disputed the findings.

A court ruled that seven Hindu leaders, including some prominent BJP leaders, should stand trial for
2003 September
inciting the destruction of the Babri Mosque.

An Uttar Pradesh court ruled that an earlier order which exonerated LK Advani for his role in the
2004 November
destruction of the mosque should be reviewed.

2007 The Supreme Court refused to admit a review petition on the Ayodhya dispute.

The Liberhan Commission, which was instituted ten days after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in
2009 1992, submitted its report on 30 June — almost 17 years after it began its inquiry. Its contents were
not made public.

The Allahabad High Court pronounces its verdict on four title suits relating to the Ayodhya dispute on
2010 30 September 30 September 2010. Ayodhya land to be divided into three parts. ⅓ goes to Ram Lalla represented by
Hindu Maha Sabha, ⅓ to Sunni Wakf Board, ⅓ goes to Nirmohi Akhara.

The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and Sunni Waqf Board moved to the Supreme Court of India,
2010 December
challenging part of the Allahabad High Court’s verdict.
Supreme Court of India stayed the High Court order splitting the disputed site in three parts and said
2011 9 May
that status quo will remain.

The Supreme Court verdict: (The below table is sourced from Wikipedia)

The 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, of Supreme Court started final
2019 6 August
hearing on the case.

Final hearing in the Supreme Court ends. The bench reserved the final judgment. The bench granted
2019 16 October three days to contesting parties to file written notes on 'moulding of relief' or narrowing down the
issues on which the court is required to adjudicate.

Final judgment delivered. The Supreme Court ordered the land to be handed over to a trust to build
2019 9 November the Ram temple. It also ordered the government to give 5 acres of land inside Ayodhya city limits to
the Sunni Waqf Board for the purpose of building a mosque.
2019 12 December All petitions seeking review of the verdict dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Beginning of new Era:

With the landmark judgement of Supreme Court in favor of re building of Shri Ram Mandir at
the holy birth place of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi marked the end of struggles over several centuries and
beginning a new era.