Ram Temple: Bhumi Pujan in Ayodhya

Ram Mandir Ayodhya

On 5th August, 2020, around 200 guests including the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi as well as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, were invited by the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to lay down the foundation stone to start building of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. 

 Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi

Bhumi Pujan was done by the Prime Minister and it is definitely a glorious day for the Hindus that the Ram Mandir which was converted into a Mosque by the General Mir Baqi on the order of Babur, an Islamic ruler, in 1528-29. 

First Battle of Panipat

At that time, the political situation of the country deteriorated to such an extent that no Hindu king was capable of restricting him. In 1526, Ibrahim Lodi was brutally defeated in the Panipat Battle and thereafter, the political atmosphere of this country totally altered. 

Khanwa Battle

In 1527, Rana Sanga, a Rajput king from Mewar, also tried to expel Babur from India in the Khanwa Battle and the Rajput kingdom was completely decimated. However, he again wanted to prepare the army to fight against Babur but he was poisoned by his own Chief as this Chief opinion was that the battle with Babur would be suicidal. 

With this, no king in India was capable of restricting Babur to rule the country and therefore, Babur was free to act as he wished. He wanted to spread the Islam in this country, however, he found that it was easy to rule this country but very difficult to change the religions and culture of the majority of the population, i.e; Hindu. He ordered his General to destroy the Ayodhya Ram Temple to convert into the Mosque named after him, i.e; Babri Masjid, which was a direct attack on the religions of the majority.

 

Emperor Akbar

Fortunately, Babur died in 1530, otherwise, some more famous temples would be converted into mosques. However, his elder son, Humayun, was incapable of holding the rein due to unavoidable reasons. He was defeated by Sher Shah Suri and hence, he was compelled to leave India, however, he regained the throne in India but died in 1556 at early age. 

Akbar ascended the throne under the patronage of Bairam Khan. Akbar was raised in a Hindu family and therefore, he never tried to attact the religions and the culture of the majority. Even he abolished the Jajiya Tax which was a good step in his reign. More or less this was continued up to Shah Jahan. However,  after Babur, most of the temples converted into Mosques were under the regime of Aurangjeb. 

Aurangjeb

Aurangjeb has ordered his chiefs to convert the majority of population of this country into Islam which increased the number of revolt from Sikhs in North west India to Marathas in the West India. These revolts certainly weakened the Mughal dynasty and therefore, none was capable to rule this country after Aurangjeb which provided opportunity to Britishers to flourish in India. 

As  the Islamic rulers became weak in India and Britishers started ruling this land, the first violence against the removal of Mosque from Ayodhya Janam Bhumi was started in 1850 when the local hindus attacked the Babri Mosque, however, due to interfere of local administration, the violence was controlled. 

Since the 1850s, the majority of the population claimed this land, whereas, Muslims also started claiming their own rights. In 1949, the local forcefully entered the Mosque and put the idols of Ram in the mosque. The contemporary Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, ordered the local officer, K.Nair, to remove the idols from the mosque but the local officer refused to follow the order in lieu of maintaining law and order. 

Hindus were claiming Ram Janam Bhumi for a long time and finally, the Supreme Court of India gave its balanced verdict for Ram Janam Bhumi as Muslims got 5 acres of land somewhere else in Ayodhya to construct the mosque and therefore, Hindus got an opportunity to construct the Ram Temple. 

Even, Muslims of this country accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court and therefore, Bhumi Pujan was completed without objections. This shows that the conversion of temple into a mosque was done on sword under the Islamic Ruler. Nowadays the system of king and emperor was rejected in this world. Therefore, most of the countries in this world adopted the democratic system.

Meanwhile, the Bhumi Pujan of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to build a Temple which will be able to exist for more than 1000 years. And therefore, the copper plates are going to be put in the foundation, which will depict the history as well as the struggle about the Ram Mandir.

No doubt, Temple was converted into a mosque before 500 years old and again it is going to be converted in its original form showing the struggle of Hindus how much time it takes to get its real status. The lawyers who pleaded around 50 years in the courts are needed to appreciate for their efforts as well as the Hindus spiritual leaders for their patience. It is well said “अंत भला तो सब भला” means “All's well that ends well.”

Jai Hind