Babri Masjid Simplified

Babri Masjid Time-Line

1525: Babur invades north India and takes over a substantial part.

1528: One of his generals, Mir Baqi comes to Ayodhya and builds a mosque, which is named after the ruler, Babri Masjid (Babur’s Mosque).

1853: First recorded incident of violence over the matter of the masjid. A Hindu sect claims the structure was built after tearing down a temple. Such violent incidents keep occurring in the following couple of years after which the civil administration steps in to only refuse permission to build a temple.

1859: The colonial British administration fences the site, marking separate areas of worship for Hindus and Muslims. That is how it stands for about next 90 years.

1883: Efforts in 1883 to construct a temple are frozen by the Deputy Commissioner in 19 January 1885. An appeal is filed before the Faizabad District Judge who dismisses it. A Second Appeal is filed on 25 May 1886, before the Judicial Commissioner of Awadh, who again dismisses it.

1885: Hindus file a claim in the British colonial courts that the mosque has been coercively built by Muslims after crushing a Hindu temple which was erected on the birth site of their god Rama. The request for restoration is forbidden by the court.

1934: Walls around the Masjid and one the domes are damaged in the communal riots. British helps in the reconstruction.

1946: A branch of the Hindu Mahasabha called Akhil Bharatiya Ramayana Mahasabha (ABRM) start an agitation for the occupation of the site.

1949: At midnight on 22 December 1949, when the police guards are asleep, a group of 60 enter Babri Mosque after breaking the compound gate lock of the mosque, statues of Rama and Sita are quietly brought inside and erected. Afterwards, a crowd of 6 k gather around, chanting bhajans along with religious slogans.

1950: Gopal Singh Visharad files a title suit with the Allahabad High Court seeking injunction to offer worship at the disputed site.

1959: The Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu religious institution, files a third title suit seeking direction to transfer the authority of the disputed site, claiming to be its keeper.

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

1984: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) launches an enormous movement for the opening of the locks of the mosque

1986: A district judge orders the gates of the mosque to be opened after almost five decades and allows Hindus to worship inside the “controversial structure.” A Babri Mosque Action Committee is created as Muslims protest the move to grant Hindu prayers at the site.

1989: In February, VHP declares that a stone will be established for construction of temple near the area. Communal tension in the region gets worse.

1991: State government acquires 2.77 acre land in the area and gives it on lease to Ram Janm Bhoomi Nyas Trust. The Allahbad High Court stops all permanent construction activity in the area.

1992: On December 6, 1992, a large gathering of Hindu Kar Sevaks completely demolish the then 464 years old Babri Masjid. The demolition occurs after a rally supporting the movement turns violent. This occurs despite a guarantee from the state government to the Supreme Court that the mosque would not be sabotaged. This further results in several months of inter-communal rioting between India's Hindu and Muslim communities, causing the death of around 2,000 people.

2010: The Allahabad High Court pronounces its decision on four title suits relating to the Ayodhya dispute on 30 September 2010: Ayodhya land to be divided into three parts of which 1/3 goes to Ram Lalla represented by Hindu Maha Sabha, 1/3 to Sunni Wakf Board, 1/3 goes to Nirmohi Akhara.

Whether a Temple Existed on the Babri Masjid site or not?

   1. Before the archaeological view point was published, there were some varying opinions. In Communal History and Rama's Ayodhya, written prior to the ASI researches, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma writes:

Ayodhya seems to have emerged as a place of religious pilgrimage in medieval times. Although chapter 85 of the Vishnu Smriti lists as many as fifty-two places of pilgrimage, including towns, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc., it does not include Ayodhya in this list. Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas in 1574 at Ayodhya, does not mention it as a place of pilgrimage. This suggests that there was no significant Hindu temple at the site of the Babri Mosque.

After the demolition of the mosque in 1992, Professor Ram Sharan Sharma along with historians Suraj Bhan, M. Athar Aliand Dwijendra Narayan Jha wrote the Historian's report to the nation saying that the belief that there was a temple at the disputed site was wrong, and that there was no credible cause to demolish the mosque.

   2. 2003 ASI Excavation: The summary of the ASI report signified concrete proofs of a temple under the mosque. The excavations yielded:

Stone and decorated bricks as well as mutilated sculpture of a divine couple and carved architectural features, including foliage patterns, amalaka, kapotapali, doorjamb with semi-circular shrine pilaster, broke octagonal shaft of black schist pillar, lotus motif, circular shrine having pranjala (watershute) in the north and 50 pillar bases in association with a huge structure.

   3. Jain ViewPoint: According to Jain Samata Vahini, a social organisation of the Jains, "the only structure that could be found during excavation would be a sixth century Jain temple".

Sohan Mehta, the General Secretary of Jain Samata Vahini, claims that the destructed structure was actually built on the remains of an old Jain temple, and that the excavation by ASI, ordered by Allahabad High Court to settle the Babri Masjid-Ramjanma bhoomi dispute, would prove it.

Mehta quoted writings of 18th century Jain monks stating Ayodhya was the place where 5 Jain tirthankars, Rishabhdeo, Ajitnath, Abhinandannath, Sumatinath and Anantnathstayed. The old city was among the 5 biggest centers of Jainism and Buddhism.

   4. Buddhists ViewPoint: Udit Raj's Buddha Education Foundation claimed that the structure excavated by ASI in 2003 was a Buddhist stupa demolished during and after the Muslim invasion of India

What is the role of Indian National Congress in igniting the issue after Independence?

Shah Bano case (1985), was a strong turning point and played a mjor role towards the demolishing of Babri Masjid.

The Case: Shah Bano, a 62-year-old Muslim mother of five from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was divorced by her husband in 1978. She filed a criminal suit in 1985, the Supreme court of India, in which she won the right to alimony from her husband. However, she was later denied the alimony when the Indian Parliament overturned the judgement under pressure from Islamic orthodoxy.

Impact: The Bharatiya Janata Party considered it as a placation of the Muslim community and discriminatory to non-Muslim men. To the Hindu majority, it looked like an aggressive and regressive minority availing of special benefits (like the Haj subsidy at a time when no subsidy existed for the Mansarovar Yatra).

Result of Impact: Rajiv Gandhi, was in state of total turmoil. He was getting rants from every nook and corner of the country, especially from the Hindus for giving the impression, that Muslims could have their way. So in a way to alleviate the pain of the majority he had to come with a strong move. In 1984, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had already launched a huge movement for the removal of the locks of the mosque, he sensed an opportunity here and under pressure, he ordered the locks on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya to be removed. After the ruling, all Hindus were given complete access to what they consider the birthplace of Rama, and the mosque gained some function as a Hindu place of worship. This was the spark that ignited the movement that only gained stronger momentum from here on.

(Sources: Ayodhya dispute , Demolition of the Babri Masjid , Babri Masjid , What is the Babri Mosque issue? , How a mosque became a temple, Literature Books, How Allahabad HC exposed 'experts' espousing Masjid cause - Times of India, Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum , The ghost of Shah Bano , Rajiv Gandhi was indirectly responsible for demolition of Babri Masjid: French author  - Times of India , The Demolition Of The Babri Masjid: An Impartial And Alternative Narrative | Youth Ki Awaaz )