Babri Masjid

Babri Masjid
Babri Masjid
19th century photo by Samuel Bourne
Religion
AffiliationIslam
DistrictAyodhya
StatusDemolished
FateSite now occupied by the Ram Mandir temple; succeeded by Muhammad bin Abdullah Masjid
Location
MunicipalityAyodhya
State Uttar Pradesh
Country India
Babri Masjid is located in India
Babri Masjid
Location in India
Geographic coordinates26°47′44″N 82°11′40″E / 26.7956°N 82.1945°E / 26.7956; 82.1945
Architecture
StyleTughlaq
CreatorMir Baqi
Funded byBabur
Demolished6 December 1992; 31 years ago (1992-12-06)
Ayodhya dispute
Organizations

Babri Masjid (ISO: Bābarī Masjida; meaning Mosque of Babur) was a mosque in Ayodhya, India. It has been claimed to have been built upon the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, the legendary birthplace of Rama, a principal deity of Hinduism.[1] It has been a focus of dispute between the Hindu and Muslim communities since the 19th century.[2] According to the mosque's inscriptions, it was built in 1528–29 (935 AH) by Mir Baqi, a commander of the Mughal emperor Babur. Before the 1940s, the masjid was officially known as "Masjid-i-Janmasthan" ("the mosque of the birthplace").[3][4] The mosque was attacked and demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob in 1992, which ignited communal violence across the Indian subcontinent.

The mosque was located on a hill known as Ramkot ("Rama's fort").[5] According to Hindu nationalists, Baqi destroyed a pre-existing temple of Rama at the site. The existence of this temple is a matter of controversy.[6][7] The Archaeological Survey of India conducted an excavation of the disputed site on the orders of the Allahabad High Court. The excavation period was short due to court time constraints, lasting only 15 days. The report of the excavation concluded that there were ruins of "a massive structure" beneath the ruins of the mosque which was "indicative of remains which are distinctive features found associated with the temples of north India", but found no evidence that the structure was specifically demolished for the construction of the Babri Masjid. The report received both praise and criticism, with some other archaeologists contesting the results of the report.[8][9]

Starting in the 19th century, there were several conflicts and court disputes between Hindus and Muslims over the mosque. In 1949, idols of Rama and Sita were placed inside the mosque, after which the government locked the building to avoid further disputes.[10] Court cases were filed by both Hindus and Muslims asking for access.[11]

On 6 December 1992, a large group of Hindu activists belonging to the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations demolished the mosque, triggering riots all over the Indian subcontinent, resulting in the death of around 2,000–3,000 people.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

In September 2010, the Allahabad High Court upheld the claim that the mosque was built on the spot believed to be Rama's birthplace and awarded the site of the central dome for the construction of a Rama temple. Muslims were also awarded one-third area of the site for the construction of a mosque.[18][19] The decision was subsequently appealed by all parties to the Supreme Court, wherein a five judge bench heard a title suit from August to October 2019.[19][20] On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court quashed the lower court's judgement and ordered the entire site (1.1 hectares or 2+3⁄4 acres land) to be handed over to a trust to build the Hindu temple. It also ordered the government to give an alternative 2-hectare (5-acre) plot to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to replace the Babri Masjid that was demolished in 1992.[21] The government allotted a site in the village of Dhannipur, in Ayodhya District, 18 kilometres (11 mi) from Ayodhya City and 30 kilometres (19 mi) by road from the site of the original Babri Masjid.[22][23] The construction of the mosque started on 26 January 2021.[24][25]

  1. ^ "BBC". 16 October 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Timeline: Ayodhya holy site crisis". BBC News. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ Stähler, Axel; Stierstorfer, Klaus (27 May 2009). Writing Fundamentalism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 9781443811897.
  4. ^ Gilly, Thomas Albert; Gilinskiy, Yakov; Sergevnin, Vladimir (2009). The Ethics of Terrorism: Innovative Approaches from an International Perspective (17 Lectures). Charles C Thomas Publisher. p. 25. ISBN 9780398079956.
  5. ^ Hiltebeitel, Alf (2009), Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics: Draupadi among Rajputs, Muslims, and Dalits, University of Chicago Press, pp. 227–, ISBN 978-0-226-34055-5
  6. ^ Udayakumar, S.P. (August 1997). "Historicizing Myth and Mythologizing History: The 'Ram Temple' Drama". Social Scientist. 25 (7): 11–26. doi:10.2307/3517601. JSTOR 3517601.
  7. ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (7 December 2015). "Ayodhya Issue". In Smith, Anthony D; Hou, Xiaoshuo; Stone, John; Dennis, Rutledge; Rizova, Polly (eds.). The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism (1 ed.). Wiley. pp. 1–3. doi:10.1002/9781118663202.wberen644. ISBN 978-1-4051-8978-1.
  8. ^ Varghese, Rachel A (19 July 2023). "Archaeology for the courtroom: the Ayodhya Case and the fashioning of a hybrid episteme". Journal of Social Archaeology. 24 (2): 109–129. doi:10.1177/14696053231190374. ISSN 1469-6053.
  9. ^ Etter, Anne-Julie (14 December 2020). "Creating Suitable Evidence of the Past? Archaeology, Politics, and Hindu Nationalism in India from the End of the Twentieth Century to the Present". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (24/25). doi:10.4000/samaj.6926. ISSN 1960-6060.
  10. ^ van der Veer (1992), pp. 98–99.
  11. ^ "Tracing The History of Babri Masjid". Outlook (Indian magazine). 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haar Busuttil 2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tablet Publishing Company was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Fuller, Christopher John (2004), The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, Princeton University Press, p. 262, ISBN 0-691-12048-X
  15. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (2007). India After Gandhi. MacMillan. pp. 582–598.
  16. ^ Khalid, Haroon (14 November 2019). "How the Babri Masjid Demolition Upended Tenuous Inter-Religious Ties in Pakistan". The Wire. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  17. ^ "As a reaction to Babri Masjid demolition, What had happened in Pakistan and Bangladesh on 6 December, 1992". The Morning Chronicle. 6 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  18. ^ The Three Way Divide Archived 18 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Outlook, 30 September 2010.
  19. ^ a b "Ayodhya dispute: The complex legal history of India's holy site". BBC News. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  20. ^ "Supreme Court hearing ends in Ayodhya dispute; orders reserved". The Hindu Business Line. Press Trust of India. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  21. ^ "Ram Mandir verdict: Supreme Court verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case". The Times of India. 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference indiatoday-05Feb20 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Sharma, Ritwik (14 February 2020). "The mood in Dhannipur, a village in Ayodhya, chosen for the 'Babri Masjid'". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  24. ^ Razak, Hanie Abdul (19 January 2021). "Construction of Ayodhya mosque to begin with flag-hoisting on Republic Day". The Siasat Daily. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  25. ^ "Ayodhya Mosque Work Starts On Republic Day With Tricolour Hoisting". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.