Ayodhya - The history

 

Ayodhya - the Birth place of Lord Rama and his brothers - Ram Janmabhoomi - lets trace its history

• It is considered to be the Capital city of Kosalaya - the Kingdom of Suryavanshi - popularly known as Raghuvamshi due to one of the most famous King Raghu 

• In the 6th-5th BCE it become part of Buddhist empire.   in the Buddhist times  Shravasti  become the capital city.  It is believed that Buddha  had stayed in this city for some time when it was identified as Saketa.  This fact is substantiated by the writings of  The Chinese Buddhist Monk Faxin in 5th BC about how the city had so many Monasteries . There are also other stupas  and other monuments  one such  Stupa is supposed to have been built by Mauryan Emperor Ashoka in 3rd Century BCE .  

• The Mauraya Dyansty dissolved in 185 BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha by Pushyamitra Shunga and foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha.  During this time, there was no much prominence to ayodhya except that it was the birthplace of Rama.  There were various dynasties which came one after the other.

• The next significant thing that happened was in 11th and 12th Centuries.  The Kanauji dynasty rose in Ayodhya when it was known as Oudh and later became part of part of Mughal empire being ruled by Delhi Sulthanate.  

• This was the time when the Mughal emperor build the Babri Majid in 16th century on the site of the temple which was considered to be the Ram Janmabhoomi.  Due to the significance of the place for both Hindus and Muslims there were always contention about this particular place.

• For at least four centuries, the site was used for religious purposes by both Hindus and Muslims. The claim that the mosque stood on the site of a temple was first made in 1822, by an official of the Faizabad court

• The Nirmohi Akhara sect cited this statement in laying claim to the site later in the 19th century, leading to the first recorded incidents of religious violence at the site in 1855.

• The first recorded legal history in Ayodhya dispute dates back to 1858. An FIR was filed on November 30, 1858, by one Mohd Salim against a group of Nihang Sikhs who had installed their nishan and written “Ram” inside the Babri mosque. They also performed havan and puja. Sheetal Dubey, the thanedar (the station house office of yore) of Avadh, in his report on December 1, 1858, verified the complaint and even said that a chabutra (platform) has been constructed by the Sikhs. This became the first documentary evidence that Hindus were present not only in the outer courtyard but also inside the inner courtyard

•  In 1859 the British colonial administration set up a railing to separate the outer courtyard of the mosque to avoid disputes. 

• The status quo remained in place until 1949, when idols of Rama were surreptitiously placed inside the mosque, allegedly by volunteers of the Hindu Mahasabha. This led to an uproar, with both parties filing civil suits laying claim to the land. The placement of the idols was seen as a desecration by the users of the Masjid. The site was declared to be in dispute, and the gates to the Masjid were locked.

• In the intervening night of 22 and 23rd December of 1949, idols were found inside the central dome of the mosque. Then Faizabad DM KK Nayar on December 23 morning informed UP chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant about a group of Hindus entering the site when it was deserted and placing the idol. An FIR was filed in the case and the gates were locked the same day. On December 29, the city magistrate passed an order under Section 145 CrPC to attach the entire property and appointed the Nagar Mahapalika president Priya Datt Ram as receiver. A week later, on January 5, 1950, Priya Datt Ram took charge as receiver.

• On January 16, 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad of the Hindu Maha Sabha became the first person to file a suit in independent India in the case. Gopal Visharad filed a suit against five Muslims, state government and the district magistrate of Faizabad praying for the right to pray and conduct pooja in the inner courtyard. On the same day, the civil judge passed an order of injunction and allowed the puja. 

• On May 25, the second suit was filed by Pramahans Ramchandra Das against Zahoor Ahmad and others and it was similar to that of the first suit. Nine years later, on December 17, 1959, Nirmohi Akhada filed the third suit to take over the management from the receiver.

• Two years later, on December 18, 1961, Sunni Central Waqf Board along with all those defendants named in the earlier suits, filed the fourth suit in the court of civil judge, Faizabad, praying for removal of idols and handing over the possession of mosque. 
• On March 20, 1963, the court held that the entire Hindu community can’t be represented by a few persons. It ordered for a public notice to implead Hindu Maha Sabha, Arya Samaj and Sanatan Dharma Sabha as defendants to represent the Hindu community.
• In the 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to Rama at the site, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its political voice.
• The movement was bolstered by the decision of a district judge, who ruled in 1986 that the gates would be reopened and Hindus permitted to worship there.
• This decision was endorsed by Shri Rajiv Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India
• On July 1, 1989, a fifth suit was filed by former Allahabad High Court Judge Deoki Nandan Agarwal as “next friend” of Ram Lala Virajman (the deity, deemed a minor legal person) before the civil judge in Faizabad. It prayed that the whole site be handed over to Ram Lala for the construction of a new temple.
•  In 1989, Shia Waqf Board also filed a suit and became a defendant in the case
• On July 12, 1989, the Allahabad High Court passed an order transferring all the suits to a three-judge bench of the high court.

• In  September 1990 LK Advani and others had organized a Rath Yatra which was to culminate in Ayodhya to emphasize the need for building a temple at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi.  The city of Ayodhya was fully fortified with more than 28000 police personnel.

• On October 30th 1990 about 10,000 of the Kar Sevaks  managed to reach Ayodhya by foot /and by crossing River Sarayu by swimming despite no lack of transport.   The crowd managed to break through the cordon around the babri majjid and started proceeding towards the masjid.   The then chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered police to fire on the crowd as even the use of tear gas couldn't stop them.  There  was also a stampede on the Sarayu bridge and many died during the stampede too.

• Again on November 2nd, one more group tried to damage the Masjid and the police resorted to firing killing a few of them.    Due to these incidents the Samajvadi Party lost the elections in subsequent elections and BJP came to power
• On October 7 and 10, 1991, the BJP state government acquired premises in dispute along with some adjoining area (total 2.77 acres of land) to develop it for tourism purpose under the land acquisition Act
• On 6 December 1992 the VHP and the BJP organised a rally at the site involving 150,000 volunteers, known as kar sevaks. The rally turned violent, and the crowd overwhelmed security forces and tore down the mosque.
• There has been several legal claims and counter claims in the interim period.

• On September 30, 2010, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the disputed 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya should be divided into three parts among the Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara. The petitioners moved the Supreme Court and the apex court stayed the HC verdict. 
• In 2016, the court started a fresh hearing of the case. In 2017, the SC said that the matter was sensitive and suggested for the case to be settled out of court. It asked stakeholders to hold talks and find an amicable solution. However, no solution was achieved. In 2018, the Supreme Court set up a five-judge Constitution Bench to hear the land dispute case.
• The five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, started day-to-day hearing on the matter from August 6, 2019, and midway through the proceedings, directed the advocates to finish the argument by October 16. 
• The Supreme Court, on October 16, 2019, concluded hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya and reserved its judgment, which was passed on November 9. 
• On November 9, 2019, The apex court, in a unanimous verdict, gave the ownership of the disputed 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya to the Ram Janmabhoomi trust. It ordered that an alternative piece of land in a "suitable" and "prominent" place in Ayodhya should be given to the Muslims to build a mosque. The Court also asked the government to frame a plan within three months and set up a trust, which would construct a temple in Ayodhya.
• In February 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in the Lok Sabha that the government had given its approval to the proposal for "Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra" trust to take care of the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and other related issues.
• The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust began the first phase of construction of the Ram Mandir on March, 2020. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed Bhoomi Pujan and laid the foundation stone of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 5 August 2020.

 Here is the proposed model of the Ram Mandir 

credits :  Google, Britanica, wikipedia, ayodhya.nic.in

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