16 minutes agoAuthor: Devanshu Tiwari
Date: May 6, Place: Banaras, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Time: 9:20 am in the morning. There was a crowd of policemen more than priests near Vishwanath temple today. By 12 o’clock, the security cover of the police increased from 10 to 100 people. The reason for this strictness is 5 women. The names are Rakhi, Lakshmi, Sita, Manju and Rekha. These people had filed a petition in the civil court 7 months ago to have Maa Shringar Gauri temple in Gyanvapi Masjid. Asked for permission to worship there but did not get it.
On 26 April, the court had told that after Eid, there will be a survey of Gyanvapi.
Now 10 days ago the files of this case were once again opened in the Senior Division Court of Varanasi. There was a heated argument between the temple and the mosque side. After hearing all the arguments, Senior Division Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar ruled, “In the presence of both the parties, every part of Gyanvapi Masjid should be video-graphed after Eid and its report should be presented in the court by 10th May. Time to maintain law and order.”
This case has been named as Shringar Gauri Case. We have spoken to the people related to the matter and the historian of BHU. Before that Shringar gets to know the chronology of the Gauri case…
Survey of Gyanvapi being done today because of Harihar, Somnath and Ramrang
3 people including Harihar Pandey had sought permission for worship in Gyanvapi. It was said in the petition that 250 years ago Maharaja Vikramaditya had built the temple here.
In 1991, 3 people from Kashi filed a suit in the civil court for worshiping in the Gyanvapi complex. These included Harihar Pandey, Somnath Vyas and Ramrang Sharma, who was a professor at Sampurnanand Vishwavidyalaya. Pandit Somnath Vyas and Ramrang Sharma died a few years after the case was filed in the court. Now Harihar is left as a party to this case.
Rakhi, Lakshmi, Sita, Manju and Rekha, who filed the petition in the Shringar Gauri case, are also demanding worship in the Gyanvapi complex. That is, the petition after which the survey is being done in Gyanvapi, its real beginning started in 1991 itself.
The Shringar Gauri case may be dated 7 months ago, but its foundation dates back to 1669. When Aurangzeb gave the order to break the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Professor Dr. Rajiv Srivastava of BHU spoke to us on the beliefs related to this.
3 to 4 times in history there are signs of temple breakdown and mosque building
The carvings on the walls of some parts of the Gyanvapi Mosque resemble the workmanship on the temples. The petition to have Shringar Gauri temple inside the mosque was filed in 2021.
There is a public discussion that Aurangzeb had demolished the Kashi Vishwanath temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque. If we look at the historical documents, there are many stories related to their construction and reconstruction. Dr. Rajiv Srivastava, Senior Professor of History Department says, “There are many beliefs related to the construction of Gyanvapi Masjid by demolishing Vishwanath temple. There is a belief that Kashi Vishwanath temple was demolished by Mohammad Ghori in 1194. After this, in 14th century, Jaunpur The ruler of K.M. Shah demolished a large part of the temple and built the Gyanvapi Masjid.
Rajeev says, “In the year 1585, one of the nine gems of Akbar, King Todarmal got the Kashi Vishwanath temple rebuilt. After this Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of the temples of Kashi in the year 1669 and gave it the shape of a mosque. Temple and There are many tales related to the construction and reconstruction of the mosque. Whenever the pages related to this are opened in the courts, a new controversy has arisen. And these disputes will continue till the doomsday.
Mustaid Khan told the truth related to Gyanvapi in ‘Maside Alamgiri’
Copy of the decree given by Aurangzeb to demolish the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Aurangzeb issued a farman on 18 April 1669. In this order was given to demolish the Kashi Vishwanath temple. After this, in August 1669, it was announced that the mosque had been completely demolished and replaced by the mosque. A copy of this decree of Aurangzeb is still kept in the Asia-Tick Library of Kolkata. The author of Aurangzeb’s time Saki Mustaid Khan has also mentioned this decree in his book ‘Maside Alamgiri’.
Page 232 of ‘Medieval India’ mentions about demolishing temples and building other religious buildings
In the book ‘Medieval India’ by historian LP Sharma, many unheard stories related to history have been told. It mentions the demolition of Hindu temples in 1669.
Historian LP Sharma writes in page number 232 of his book ‘Medieval India’ In the year 1669, all the Subedars were ordered to destroy Hindu temples and schools. A separate department was also created for its monitoring. After this order, big temples like Kashi Vishwanath temple of Banaras, Keshavdev temple of Mathura, Somnath of Patan were demolished. And in their place other religious buildings were built.
Sita, a party to the temple, said, Mother Shringar Gauri is our adorable goddess, her worship is our right
The women who filed the petition in the Maa Shringar Gauri case say that till 1992, there was regular worship of Maa Shringar Gauri.
Sita Sahu, a member of Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Dharma Sangha, is the petitioner in the Shringar Gauri case. She says, “Maa Shringar Gauri is our adored deity. We have the right to worship her. When regular darshan-worship of Maa Shringar Gauri was allowed till 1992. Then why not now. In this temple built in the Gyanvapi complex, the deity is worshipped. There are idols of many gods and goddesses including Ganesh, Hanuman and Nandi. The truth of the administration which is conducting the survey on 6th will come to the fore.
The advocate of the mosque, Mohd. Yasin said, temple-mosque built at one time, do not spread lies
Syed M Yasin, Joint Secretary, Anjuman Inaztiya Masjid.
Syed M Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Inaztiya Masajid, which oversees the Gyanvapi mosque, said in an interview to a news channel, “The temple and the mosque were built by Akbar around 1585 under the new religion Din-e-Ilahi, But later Aurangzeb had the temple demolished, because he was opposing Din-e-Ilahi. It is wrong to say that the mosque was built after demolishing the temple. Deities are there, they are lying.”
Yasin further says that Namaz is being offered in Gyanvapi Mosque not from 1947, but since the time this mosque was built in 1669.
A law made in 1991 is the reason for videography in Gyanvapi
On 26 April, the survey was ordered in the Gyanvapi campus on the petitions which were filed in the year 1991. In the meantime, the Parliament had approved the Place of Worship Act. In this law, it was told here that the place of worship of any religion which came into existence before 15th August 1947 cannot be converted into a place of worship of any other religion. If anyone does this, he will have to pay 1 to 3 years in jail and fine. Ayodhya Ram Mandir and Babri Masjid case was pending in the court since independence. Therefore, this case has been kept out of the purview of this law.
Gyanvapi Masjid came into limelight 6 times after 1991
1991: The Masjid Management Committee challenged this petition in the High Court.
1993: Allahabad High Court ordered to maintain status quo.
2018: The Supreme Court gave the validity of the stay order for 6 months.
2019: Hearing in this matter started again in Varanasi court.
2021: The fast track court approved the archaeological survey of Gyanvapi.
2022: Survey was conducted in Gyanvapi Masjid.
,