Ayodhya and the end of Negationism

Great fb friend Astara Chandra 

Here is just one example from the 19th century, written by Mirza Jan, the author of a historical work known as Hadiquah-I-Shuhada that appeared in 1856:

“…wherever they found magnificent temples of the Hindus….the Muslim rulers in India built mosques, monasteries, and inns, appointed mu’assins, teachers and store-stewards, spread Islam vigorously, and vanquished the Kafirs. Likewise they cleared up Faizabad and Avadh (Ayodhya), too from the filth of reprobation (infidelity), because it was a great center of worship and capital of Rama’s father. Where they stood a great temple of (Ramajanmasthan), there they built a big mosque…what a lofty mosque was built there by king Babar!”

Some of the old sources used by Mirza Jan have yet to be unearthed, but one which he quotes from a Persian work known as Sahifah-I-Chihal Nasa’ib Bahadurshahi written in 1707 by a grand-daughter of the Moghur emperor Aurangazeb is particularly interesting. The Moghul princess declares:

“…keeping the triumph of Islam in view, devout Muslim rulers should keep all idolators in subjection to Islam, brook no laxity in realization of Jizyah (religious tax on Hindus), grant no exceptions of Hindu Rajahs from dancing attendance on Id days and waiting on foot outside mosques till end of prayer…and keep in constant use for Friday and congregational prayer the mosque built up after demolishing the temples of the idolatrous Hindus situated at Mathura, Banaras and Avadh..."

The Encyclopedia Britannica volume 1, 1985. 15th edition, has to say about Ayodhya: "There are few monuments of any antiquity. Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babur in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple."

This leaves no doubt that all regarding either the fact of the temple destruction, or the motives behind their destruction – especially of the holiest of them, situated at Mathura, Benares and Ayodhya. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, it is an exercise in futility to try to deny it. Negationism is simply not an option.

The Babri Ayodhya demolition must be viewed as a symbol of awakening historical awareness on the part of the Hindus. To the Hindus, the site is hallowed by the birth of their hero, Rama, regarded by them as the embodiment of truth, generosity, bravery, chivalry and an incarnation of the God Vishnu. It is a sacred spot. Hindus will not forget history. And writers, intellectuals, and journalists who are ignoring this are failing in their responsibility. They are taking the easy way out by hiding behind slogans like ‘Secularism’ and platitudes like “We must not reopen the wounds of history.” This is not scholarship, but cowardice.

Every living nation has national symbols and Ayodhya is one of India’s. Just like an American would not let stand a mosque built by someone after demolishing Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) or the Statue of Liberty, which Americans see as a national monument, same way for Hindus, it is a sacred spot and it can not be sacrificed in order to appease those that stand at the wrong side of their own history.

Astara Chandra, Brahmanists vs. Abrahmanists      (Courtesy )