Images: India Today
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey report on the Gyanvapi Mosque has infused a fresh ray of hope for Hindus with photographs from the 839-page document providing irrefutable evidence of a pre-existing Hindu temple beneath the mosque’s imposing structure.
The detailed evidence contains pictures of revered Hindu deities like Hanuman, Ganesha, and Nandi lying desecrated within the mosque complex. The photos also reveal the discovery of several yonipattas (the base of a shiv ling) and a shiv linga with its bottom part or base missing.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu side, described the report’s documentation of the idols’ positions and measurements at a press conference last evening.
“This inscription leaves no room for doubt – a grand Hindu temple, Adivishwara, stood tall on this very spot before its brutal destruction,” Jain said.
“A total of 34 inscriptions were recorded during the current inspection, and 32 estampages were taken. These are inscriptions on the stones of pre-existing Hindu temples which have been reused during construction of the existing structure,” Jain stated, adding that the inscriptions are in Devanagari, Grantha, Telugu and Kannada scripts.
He added that debris of Hindu deities and remnants of pillars from the older temple were used in the mosque’s construction. He read out specific details within the report, including those describing inscriptions in Persian on stone slabs that provide an account of the temple’s demolition during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century.
According to Jain, these findings strongly suggest the existence of a grand Hindu temple at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque. “This evidence indicates that when Aurangzeb demolished the temple of Adivishwara in the 17th century, a grand temple existed there,” he added.
The temple had a big central chamber. North, south, west chambers of the temple still exist. Central chamber of the temple forms the central hall of the existing structure
– ASI report on Gyanvapi pic.twitter.com/eaO8NeWFsT
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) January 25, 2024
Three names of deities, such as Janardhana, Rudra and Umesvara, are found in these inscriptions. The report read that terms such as Maha-muktimandapa mentioned in three inscriptions are significant.
The temple had a big central chamber. North, south, west chambers of the temple still exist. Central chamber of the temple forms the central hall of the existing structure
– ASI report on Gyanvapi pic.twitter.com/eaO8NeWFsT
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) January 25, 2024
However, Akhlaq Ahmed, representing the Anjuman Anjamiya Masjid Committee, has categorically refuted the Hindu side’s claims. He dismissed the report’s findings as mere reiterations of what an Advocate Commission discovered during previous court-mandated proceedings.
“The only difference is that ASI has written its measurements this time. But the Hindu side’s claims are unfounded and lack expert validation,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed also questioned the expertise of the Hindu side in determining the age of the building materials and pointed out that the ASI report itself does not specify the age of the stones.
Regarding mentioning Hindu deities in the ASI report’s photographs, Ahmed maintained that the idols found are not authentic.
Following an order of the district court passed on July 21 last year, the ASI carried out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi premises to determine whether the mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The ASI had submitted its survey report to the district court in a sealed cover on December 18.
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