The discovery of remains of Hindu stone sculptures like a Shivling, broken-idols of Hindu deities, and carved pillars at the construction site of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, has now caused massive heartburn to leftist sand Naxal sympathisers, who are now casting doubts over the recent excavations while attempting to downplay the historical importance attached to the recent findings.
A day after various remains of a temple was unearthed from Ram Mandir site at Ayodhya, Nandini Sundar, a known Naxal sympathiser, took to Twitter to peddle a new narrative to discredit the findings at the Ram Janmabhoomi site.
According to Nandini Sundar, who is the wife of The Wire’s editor Siddharth Varadarajan, the excavations carried out under the site was bound to have low evidentiary value as there were no details regarding the strata at where the idols were found.
Claiming that the excavations had little value, the ultra-left wing professor claimed that the pillars, the remains of the temple were ‘miraculously’ unearthed while carrying out land levelling activities at the site.
Falling for similar propaganda, self-proclaimed experts and leftists joined Nandini Sundar in propagating a new narrative against the construction of Ram Mandir by undermining the new archaeological findings at the historic site.
Anjali Mody, who claims to be a journalist, claimed that there was a huge difference between an actual excavation and an excavation for a foundation to state that earthmovers were used to clear rubble after the demolition of Babri Masjid and 14 other temples, thus implying that the new findings had very little archaeological use.
According to Mody, the new findings is nothing but the rubbles of the Babri Masjid and the temples which were demolished earlier. The Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, nearly 28 years ago.
Excavations of remains of Hindus temples at Ayodhya
During the excavation carried out for the construction works for the temple in the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, the remains of Hindu stone sculptures, including a Shivling, broken-idols of Hindu deities, and carved pillars of Indic design were found near the site on Wednesday.
According to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, as the work for levelling of land and removal of the gangway in Shri Ramjanmabhumi Complex was resumed on Wednesday after the coronavirus lockdown, the workers at the site unearthed the remains of pillars adorned with old Hindu carvings, likely of a temple during the excavation.
The objects included various archaeological artefacts and stone pillars with carvings of flowers, Kalash, Aamalak, etc, said Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust. During the excavation, a 5 feet Shivaling, 7 carved pillars of Black touchstone, 6 carved pillars of red sandstone and broken idols of Hindu gods were also found. The trust said that the work is still continuing at a slow pace due to the restrictions.
The findings had vindicated the presence of Hindu temples beneath the overground structures, which was a bone of contention for decades and was later resolved by the Supreme Court of the country. The earlier ASI findings had stated that there were remains of an ancient temple beneath the site where the Babri Masjid was erected.
In fact, the excavations done on Wednesday as part of a ground-levelling carried out by Ram Janmabhoomi trust as preparation for the construction of Ram temple itself. The recent work, however, however, is no part of an official excavation carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India.
With remains of temples, a Shivalinga and pillars are being found at the site, there have been growing demands across the spectrum to begin new scientific excavations not only at Ayodhya but also at various other places including Kashi and Mathura to unearth the truth behind the presence of Hindu temples beneath the over-laying Islamic structures.
Left historians, intelligentsia dismissed presence of temple beneath
For decades, the left-historians and the ‘liberal-secular’ intelligentsia had pushed false theories claiming that there was minimal evidence for a temple at the sacred site.
The likes of Marxist historians – Romila Thapar, DN Jha, Irfan Habib, backed by the ruling dispensation in the past, had set out to dismiss the presence of a Hindu temple beneath the controversial Babri Masjid.
KK Muhammad, former Regional Director(North) of Archaeological Survey of India, had also revealed that Left historians like Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar had thwarted an amicable settlement to the Babri Masjid issue. They had also stated before the media that no temple remains were found at the site.
ASI excavations
The former ASI Director had also stated in an interview with Time of India that there is enough archaeological proof of a grand temple below the Babri Mosque. The first excavation was carried out in the year 1976-77 under the eminent archaeologist BB Lal, who was the director-general of ASI from 1968-72.
Mohammad had divulged that during the process he saw 12 pillars of the mosque which were made from temple remains. However, these findings were not highlighted by BB Lal then as their excavation purpose was not to establish whether there was a temple or not but to examine the cultural sequence of the place.
The second excavation was carried out in 2003 under the supervision of archaeologists Hari Manjhi and BR Mani, as per the directions of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
During this time more than 90 pillar bases in 17 rows were exposed. This meant that the structure was imposing and large. This structure discovered was that of a temple below the Babri Mosque which dated back to the 12th century AD, confirmed Muhammed.
