Does History have answers to the Gyanvapi Mosque Case? | Akash & Dharmesh
A survey of truth is about to start in Gyanvapi The place where Gyanvapi mosque is located ... That a temple did exist ... If we call it a mosque, then that's controversial ASI survey is going on in Gyanvapi ... The court has accepted that the ASI survey is really necessary This is just a trailer ... wait for Kashi and Mathura
Although this slogan was first raised three decades ago but the slogan and controversy are both still relevant ... in fact gaining momentum off late After a long debate, the Supreme Court gave green flag to temple in Ayodhya and in a peaceful way Now it's time for Kashi and Mathura About which, some or the other new update or controversy is heard nowadays. Those who were thinking that there will be peace after Ayodhya were wrong. August 3rd, 2023 - Allahabad High Court, while hearing the order of the district court of Varanasi, has approved the demand for a scientific survey of Gyanvapi Masjid Gyanvapi Masjid committee tried to prevent that by going to courts ... this survey is being done to check whether mosque is built upon Hindu temple Now, only after the ASI, i.e. Archaeological Survey of India reports and court proceedings will reveal who is right - temple or mosque side
But there are many other questions and mysteries in this case along with ASI report ... they caught the attention for past few years #1 Was the temple demolished to build Gyanvapi mosque? And if yes, when was this? #2 What is the opinion of both parties on the alleged shivling and other ancient artifacts found in the mosque? #3 What will happen after this scientific survey by ASI? #4 What is 1991 Places of Worship Act, which is being referred to by the Masjid Committee in the court #5 Can the government change the Places of Worship Act? If yes, what will follow next? We will find answers to these questions in today's video ~subscribe and press bell icon~ In 1991, Vijay Shankar Rastogi filed a suit in Varanasi district court on behalf of Kashi Vishwanath temple trust Claiming that 2050 years ago, there was a temple constructed by Maharaja Vikramaditya in place of Gyanvapi mosque today And because there was already a temple there, the Places of Worship Act of 1991 is not applicable there. Now, what is the Places of Worship Act? We will talk about it in depth later, but in short, understand this, ...this is the act of the Parliament under which you cannot mess with any place of worship, religious character, and structure This act is a strong argument for mosque side But before knowing about the act in depth, heading to our favorite section, a little history - because we will get answers to many of our questions in history. So, as it is said in this petition of 1991, there was such a belief, among common people, among common citizens, there is a popular belief that Maharaja Vikramaditya had built the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
But there are different opinions on how the temple was demolished Some say that the temple was demolished and a mosque was built instead. Others say that the mosque was next to the temple and no temple was demolished. What does history say about it? What evidence do we have in history? Let's see. According to a Persian poet of the 12th century, Hassan Nizami, General Qutubuddin Aibak of Muhammad Ghori defeated Jai Chandra and his army reached Banaras and many temples were demolished. After this, in 1296, during the rule of Iltutmish, many Hindu businessmen rebuilt the temples. It is said that around the 13th century, another demolition drive was seen in Varanasi. Then, during the Mughal period, when Akbar ruled, one of his 9 jewels - Raja Todarmal, and Raja Man Singh constructed the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
And then comes the controversial period of Aurangzeb where large-scale temple demolitions took place again. Sources of that happening are still available. Maasir-I-'Alamgiri, written by Saqi Mustad Khan is considered to be the most authentic book on Aurangzeb This book mentions many of the orders, statements of Alamgir, that is, Aurangzeb. And according to this book, after Aurangzeb's order ... many temples were demolished in Tatta, Multan and Kashi And the temple side believes that during this demolition period, Vishveshwar temple was also demolished and the mosque was built at the same place, which is called Gyanvapi Mosque today.
Now there is no debate on this that during the rule of Aurangzeb, temples were destroyed and many mosques were built in their place. Is Gyanvapi one of those mosques or not? The claim of the Mosque side is that Gyanvapi has been present since the time of Akbar Secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee - Sayyed Mohd Yasin, believes that during Akbar's time, there was a center of the Deen-e-Ilahi which was beside the mosque Deen-e-Ilahi was an experiment by Akbar combining good elements of all religions This center was removed during Aurangzeb's time and its remains are still visible near the mosque. Many people consider this to be the remains of the temple. Yasin also claims that there are two graves there which proves that this was not a temple but a center where all religions were allowed and its architecture was also synthetic.
After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal dynasty started to decline. Maratha rulers started to grow stronger. In 1776, Indore's queen Ahilyabai Holkar rebuilt the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It is said that the temple is same structure which was built by queen Ahilyabai Holkar at that time That was history. Now let's see how the current controversies, court cases, surveys, have reached this point. On 3rd August, Allahabad High Court gave permission to ASI for survey at Gyanvapi mosque premises. Deadline to complete survey is Sep 2
While recording this episode, the ASI survey is being conducted in Gyanvapi. It is being said that the survey is taking care that the religious character of the mosque is not disturbed ... because according to the places of worship act 1991 it is not allowed That is why ASI is using ground penetrating radar technology so that minimum physical interference is there but if needed, excavation can also be done. Last year in April 2022, in Varanasi district court - four women petitioners asked for permission to conduct a video survey in the mosque. The video showed ancient symbols on the walls of the mosque. The video also showed the alleged shivling structure inside the mosque
The temple side says it is a shivling whereas mosque side says it is a fountain Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee joint secretary says that such fountain can be found in old Shahi mosques ... and hole on the top is not found in a shivling - this is what mosque side believes This claim is not just by SM Yasin ... one member of priest family - Rajendra Tiwari also believes that this is not alleged shivling as 63 cm hole in the middle of the stone structure is not possible in Shivling. And he says that the real Shivling is the one worshipped by the people of his family since the time of Ahilyabai Holkar. But from petition, how this matter reached to ASI survey ... let us see the chronology
Take a look at this picture of Gyanvapi mosque ... you can clearly see a structure on the side of the mosque According to mosque side, this structure is from Din-i Ilahi It is said that there are many Hindu deities' artifacts around it. One of the artefacts is Shringar Gauri ... the whole matter started here On 18th April 2021, four women filed a petition in Varanasi District Court demanding permission to allow them to worship Shringar Gauri on a daily basis, which was allowed once a year These four women are Lakshmi devi, Manju Vyas, Sita Sahu and Rekha Pathak.
What is the matter of worshipping Shringar Gauri? Did Hindu devotees have daily access to it? The answer to this question is Yes, Hindu devotees were allowed to worship daily. Till 1993, worship of the gods and goddesses on the wall behind the mosque was done on a daily basis. No one had any problem. The Hindu and Muslim sides had no problem ... as everyone was doing their own prayers. But in this case, VHP leader Sohan Lal himself says that once some VHP and Bajrang Dal workers threw 300-400 pots of Ganga jal towards the Gyanvapi mosque. After which the administration placed a 10 ft barricade. VHP and Bajrang Dal did same thing again ... administration put a 20 ft barricade, as well as limited the access to Shringar Gauri to once a year In 1998, Allahabad High Court took a big decision ... for the next 22 years, stopped hearing about the dispute in the lower courts Then in December 2019, Advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi filed an application from Swayammbhu Jyotirling Bhagwan Vishweshwar and demands ASI survey to be conducted And this is how the case came to limelight again after 20-22 years.
After that, the court allowed videographic survey on the petition by 4 women They appealed for carbon dating so that it can be known how old the structure is and if the shivling was there long before District court rejected the appeal so they went to high court and then ASI made a 52 pages report And they told about all the scientific techniques which will not interfere with the original character of any structure. And the survey can be conducted. High court allowed it. After that, all these Varanasi based women petitioners, another application was moved in the lower court regarding ASI survey on 16th May 2023, in this year and decision made by high court on 3 Aug, and survey is now going on But this survey will not be done on the controversial shivling type structure because it was seized after Supreme Court order That was so far the summary of legal status related to Gyanvapi mosque But still there are many claims, counter claims, misinformation claims, still roaming on the internet and mainstream media. Let's take a look We found many claims related to the Gyanvapi mosque as we researched for this episode ... people have different viewpoints and questions
Question number one, how can a mosque be called Gyanvapi? Chief Minister Yogi ji has also commented on this. Gyanvapi means well of wisdom, reference of which can be easily found in 8th century scriptures, in Skanda Puran. In BHU, a professor of heritage study, Dr. Rana P.B. Singh, said that the mosque was initially called Alamgiri Mosque, but due to being located near the Gyanvapi area, it is now called Gyanvapi Mosque. And this became its name. Question number 2. What is the connection between Nandi's position and the Shivling found in the mosque?
Many people argue that Nandi's face is in the direction of the mosque. According to Hindu belief, it is generally seen that the direction in which Nandi's face is, is the direction of Shivaling. And in Kashi Vishwarath Complex, one side claims that Nandi's face is pointing in the direction of Gyanvapi mosque But on this claim, Dr. Rana P.B. Singh says that Nandi was donated to the temple by the king of Nepal in 1824. This claim does not stand. Question number 3 - What is the problem of mosque committee with the video survey and ASI survey? Let the truth come out. In response to this question, the mosque committee puts forward the Act of 1991 and raises questions on all surveys.
After that, Varanasi court removed him from the case He is raising questions on credibility of process and saying not comfortable with it But there is more to this case ... the roots of the controversy are very old Connected to socio political developments between 1980 and 1990 In 1984, Dharma Sansad is organized by VHP initiating the Ram mandir movement Similar dharma sansad is organized in Udupi, 1985 where Krishna janma-sthan and vacating Kashi vishwanath temple complex demands were put forward As the Ram Mandir movement reached its peak, communal tension in the country started to rise. Ram Mandir was already a matter before independence. But the issue of Krishna Janmsthan and Kashi Vishwanath temple is just getting started. And that is why in 1991, the PV Narasimha Rao government took a big decision considering the environment of the country and passed the Places of Worship Act in Parliament.
Now you must be thinking, why is this act so important? And why did the government feel the need to pass it? As we just told you, at that time, in the 90s, Ram Mandir movement was at its peak Advani ji began rath yatra ... later he was arrested and the communal tension was increasing in the country due to the shooting of the workers in Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, to avoid new controversies and keep situation in control, the Places of Worship Act of 1991 was passed. As per this act, any place of worship as it existed on 15 Aug 1947, cannot be interfered with Whether it is a temple, a mosque, a church or a Gurudwara. Because if you sit and search, if you dig into history, you will find many such cases. How Mughals built mosque after demolishing temples Research also shows that the kings built temples on Buddhist structures. So, this breaking and building up was to be stopped somewhere.
And our independence in 1947 was a good marker Interestingly, the Ayodhya and Ram Mandir issue was exempted in this act. Because this issue was already on the table before 1947 and was going on. But no other place of worship can be interfered according to the law. In 2019, during the verdict of Ram Mandir, a bench of the Supreme Court, during the hearing talked about this and supported this act ... and said that no change should be made in religious character of places. Not only that, the Supreme Court even said that the Places of Worship Act, is a legislative instrument to protect the secular feature of Indian politics. It can be considered as a basic feature of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court statements are not ordinary statements. They are quoted at different times. And many policies of the government are reversed by quoting these judgments. In democracy, this is called check and balance. But now, questions are being raised about the validation of this act. Supreme Court has now accepted six petitions on this matter, which include the names of BJP leader Adv. Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay and BJP's former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy. And the recent development in this matter is that the Supreme Court told the government on 11 July 2023 that they have time till 31st October to clear stand on this act. So, this issue can gain momentum ... Will the government reject this place of worship act?
Places of Worship Act 1991 was brought with the hope that we will choose liberalization, development, and hard work over communal politics ... This was true for a few years. After the introduction of the Act, the dispute between Kashi and Mathura was resolved. People started to talk about real issues. The real issue like that of corruption which began a movement and Congress was ousted in 2014 Talk about corruption today, people will ask where is corruption? It's all good. The controversy of Kashi and Mathura is back in the headlines.
You will see communal hatred in the debates at 9 PM. But if you remember, we also made an episode after Ayodhya verdict. In that episode, we said that the court's orders have been met, the temple is being built, which is a good thing. But should we now believe that the debate on the temple and mosque will end, and now the Hindus and Muslims will move forward together and work for the development of the country? It's been three years since that episode. And the regret is that we are going back in the same direction. Even if we become third largest economy with 8% annual growth, our average income will be less than that of Bangladesh and will be around Angola.
How many temples were destroyed, how many mosques were built, if we start to follow up on this, this will continue for the next 700 years. Let's assume that the ASI survey proves that there are some religious and temple remains under the mosque. Still, you cannot change the existing mosque and its character according to the law of 1991. Then, if we talk about the Supreme Court and according to its order, the government should clear its stand till 31st October, then what will be the take of the central government in this matter? If the Modi government repeals this act or tries to do so, then the issues of Kashi and Mathura will again get agitated.
And along with that, I don't know how many more such demands will come up. So, all this time and effort will go only in this. But it is possible that the government which loves bulldozers, thinks that the places of worship act can also be removed. Organizations like VHP and Bajrang Dal keep on saying that Kashi and Mathura are still remaining. Will the government be able to handle these organizations after the repeal of this act? Will we have to face the extreme communal environment like the early 90s again? The act was made to tackle exactly this. Whatever the court's decision is will be final. But when will we talk about the real issues? China's threat, unemployment, inflation, law and order. If you have seen this long episode, tell me what we should focus on if you like our work and you like to watch detailed episodes, then do support us so that we can bring more such videos for you.
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2023-08-12 02:10
