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(This story was originally published on 22 May 2022. It is being republished after Supreme Court disallowed survey of a structure inside the Gyanvapi Mosque.)
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
Why is a 300-year-old mosque in one of the world's oldest cities making headlines, locked in a three-decade tense, legal battle, stoking the fears of a Babri demolition rerun?
Here's deciphering the facts from fiction and decoding the Gyanvapi story, from the pages of history.
The Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi mosque
The Gyanvapi mosque
In a heavily barricaded, high security complex in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, a temple and a mosque overlook each other. Hindus and Muslims have prayed here next to each other for decades. The mosque with a 'Hindu' name stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple – a very holy shrine for Hindus worldwide.
The Kashi Vishweshwar temple had been rebuilt by Toder Mal, during the reign of Akbar – the third Mughal emperor. Toder Mal was Akbar's finance minister. The temple was reportedly partially demolished on the orders of Aurangzeb.
The patrons of the Vishweshwar temple are believe to have helped Shivaji – the Maratha ruler and enemy of the Mughal empire, escape from prison. And that angered Aurangzeb.
Legend says before Aurangzeb's soldiers could demolish the temple, the priests hid the Shiva idol in the adjacent well. And thus, the idol remained unharmed.
Though adjacent to each other, the entry and exit points of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque are in different directions.
The mosque is a three-dome white structure, within a 20-feet barricade.
The entrance of the mosque is very similar to that of Taj Mahal.
The plinth of the 'demolished temple' reportedly mostly remains untouched and now serves as the courtyard of the mosque.
Since 1984, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) launched a nation-wide movement to 'reclaim' the sites of the mosques that they claimed were constructed by 'demolishing Hindu temples'. This included the Gyanvapi mosque.
The mosque first came into the news in 1991 when the BJP and VHP led a Ram temple movement in Ayodhya. 200 kilometres away in Varanasi, Hindu priests demanded the Gyanvapi mosque be handed over to them.
Despite passing of the Act, months later the Babri masjid – a 16th century mosque – was razed to the ground by Hindutva leaders and activists in Ayodhya.
After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court in 2019, ruled in favour of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Muslims were given a separate plot of land, to build a mosque. The apex court's verdict brought Gyanvapi back in to the limelight.
Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque overlooking each other
Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque overlooking each other
Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque overlooking each other
Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque overlooking each other
Two years later, five Hindu women petitioners moved the Varanasi district court seeking round-the-year access to pray at a 'shrine behind the western wall of the mosque complex'. They wanted permission to worship the idols of Shringar Gauri, Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, and Nandi that are located on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque, daily.
This site is currently open for Hindu prayers once a year – on the fourth day of the Chaitra Navratri.
8 April 2021: A Varanasi Court ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a requested survey of the Gyanvapi mosque.
9 September 2021: Allahabad High Court stayed the survey by ASI.
26 April 2022: Varanasi Civil Judge ordered survey and videography by the advocate commissioner at the mosque complex.
This prompted the Varanasi court to order the controversial sealing of the part of the mosque where the shivling was reportedly found. But the mosque authorities claimed that the shivling was actually part of a fountain inside a wazookhana (restroom) of the mosque.
On 19 May 2023, the Supreme Court has disallowed survey of a structure inside the Gyanvapi Mosque which Hindu plaintiffs claim is a 'Shivling.'
(This was first published on 24 May 2022. It has been republished from The Quint's archives after Supreme Court disallowed survey of a structure inside the Gyanvapi Mosque.)
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