Ram Janmabhoomi Temple & Hindu Renaissance

Prabhu Shri Ram is the most admired figure in Sanatan consciousness and spiritual devotion. In him Sanatan society views an ideal manifestation of a son, a husband, a king, a brother, a student and a compassionate fellow human being. The Janmasthan temple was the principal place of Prabhu Shri Ram’s incarnation which has remained a sacred site for crores of Hindus since time immemorial. It was demolished on the orders of Babar in 1528 by Mir Baqi and serves as a disgraceful example of religious intolerance of the Muslim rulers of India.

A lot has been said in last 40-50 years about historical evidence to support the claim whether Prabhu Shri Ram was born at the Janmasthan temple, but it is all irrelevant. The existence of God, is not bound by the realms of history and neither required to be proved by historical proofs. People who raise these concerns in the matter of faith will not found any grounds if proofs of the birth of Christ from a virgin mother to be asked, or that he rose from his grave three days after his death to go to heaven. Similarly, what historical evidence exist to prove that Quran was actually revealed to prophet by Allah or Muhammad went to seven layers of heaven sitting on a flying horse. The faith of Hindus has as much right to respect as of any other religious groups. When people can agree to such ridiculous looking claims of other faiths why not simple and logical demands of Hindus?

Religious bigotry and hatred for native Hindus were the prime motives behind mindless iconoclast carried out by the Muslim rulers in medieval India. Be it Kesavadeva temple in Mathura or Vishwanath temple in Kashi or Janmasthan temple in Ayodhya or thousands of other Hindu/Jain temples in India, this fanatical religious expansionism had remained a central theme of the invaders who came to India. Hindu society has suffered this cruelty for over a thousand years and upto certain extent it is continuing until today. A land where inclusiveness and compassion were naturally imbibed in the life values had been swamped with the sick practices of rapes, sex slavery, murders, loot, desecration of religious places and forceful conversions by these invaders. We have lost a lot to this imperialist ideology – our cultural roots have seen decay, our glory and growth have seen decline, our populace has seen an exchange to an alien cult.

The sufferings of Hindu society during Islamic rule was limitless. The most tyrant of Mughal emperors, Aurangzeb issued his order in 1669 ordering destruction of Hindu temples everywhere. This provocative order had taken Hindu suffering and Muslim high-headedness to a new heights, particularly in respect to Hindu women. Murshid Quli Khan, faujdaar of Mathura was notorious for seizing “all their most beautiful women” and forcing them into his harem. As per ‘Masir-ul-Umara’, on the occasion of Krishna janmashthami a vast gathering of Hindu men and women used to take place at Govardhan on the banks of river Jamuna opposite Mathura. Quli Khan, painting his forehead and wearing dhoti like a Hindu, used to walk up and down in the crowd. Whenever he saw a woman whose beauty attracted him, he snatched her away like a wolf pouncing upon a flock, and placing her in the boat which his men kept ready on the bank. The helpless Hindu father never divulged what had happened to his daughter. His life used to remain in constant agony and feeling of dishonour deserted him only by the blow of death.

This character of Islamic zealots was not confined to the torture of Hindu women – they have considered destroying temples of the infidels and smashing their idols as their pious duty. Archaeological excavation, literary evidences, inscriptions and contemporary practices have beyond doubt proved that Babar’s mosque was constructed by demolishing the Janmabhoomi temple which stood at the site, and using its pillars and debris. Janmabhoomi temple was one of the oldest Ram temple because its Kasouti columns that were later on used in the mosque have been dated by archaeologists to the 11^th century and before.  

Since last 500 years Hindus have fought an arduous battle for freeing Janmasthan. It is a shame that they were not allowed in their own country a right to reclaim even the most significant sites of their religion such as Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya. After the loss of nearly 400,000 lives and a long stretched legal battle finally a judgement has come in their favour (and rightfully so) which allows them to construct the temple of Prabhu Shri Ram. Imagine how other communities would have behaved in the similar situation if it was a matter of reclaiming a mosque or a church?

This is a history defining moment in our lives – let us do everything possible to unite Hindu society and contribute generously towards the construction of a grand temple and pilgrim centre in Ayodhya.

It is a high time for us to start facing some hard facts. We shall no more allow so called secularism to impose an emergency in India over Hindus. This movement, this resurgence of Hindu sentiments will not make lasting impact if we fail to face and correct the numerous distortions in our history and social philosophy that have blinded India’s spiritual vision, culture and growth of Dharma. We must restore the freedom of discussion and dissent for which India’s philosophical tradition has been famous and no more escape shall be allowed from it to philosophies that uses methods of street riots and blackmailing.

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