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Ram Janmabhoomi verdict is not about Ram, but about Humanity of India

Ram Janmabhoomi verdict is not about Ram, but about Humanity of India

Last updated on: September 29, 2010 at 8:49 pm by Desh Kapoor

Ram Janmabhoomi verdict is not about Ram, but about Humanity of India 2010-09-29T20:49:50-05:00 Desh Kapoor

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Tomorrow, after one postponement, the Allahabad High Court will give its verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babr Masjid issue. The judges are Justice D V Sharma, S U Khan and Sudhir Agarwal. The bench will begin the delivery of its verdict at 3:30 p.m. in Court Number 21 in the High Court premises. There is a high level of security at the court site and around the country, lest riots break out.

Why is this suit even important?

Lets get a few things out of the way:

There is no doubt from archeology and other research that there was a Ram Temple there, which was broken by Babar. Whether that temple was where Ram was born or not is another matter. I think though it is important and interesting, it should not be a critical point in this debate. That there was a place of worship which a barbarian chose to demolish and build his own structure instead (using the very material from the older place of worship) is an important fact.

The British District Gazetteer H.E. Neville has discussed the temple in Ayodhya in many of his Gazette writings – as cited by the author in this translation of Babar Nama (p. 656).

Concerning Babur’s acts in 934AH. the following item, (met with since I was working on 934AH. ), continues his statement (f. 338b) that he spent a few days near Aiid (Ajodhya) to settle its affairs. The D. G. of Fyzabad (H. E. Nevill) p. 173 says ” In 1528 AD. Babur came to Ajodhya (Aud) and halted a week. He destroyed the ancient temple” (marking the birth-place of Rama) “and on its site built a mosque, still known as Babur’s Mosque … It has two inscriptions, one on the outside, one on the pulpit ; both are in Persian ; and bear the date 935 AH.” This date maybe that of the completion of the building. (Corrigendum : On f. 339 n. I, I have too narrowly restricted the use of the name Sarju. Babur used it to describe what the maps of Arrowsmith and Johnson shew, and not only what the Gazetteer of India map of the United Provinces does. It applies to the Sarda (f. 339) as Babur uses it when writing of the fords. )

Neville reiterated his stance again in the Barabanki Gazette as well:

Neville reports that “numerous disputes have sprung up from time to time between the Hindu priests and the Mussalmans of Ayodhya with regard to the ground on which formerly stood the Janmasthan temple, which was destroyed by Babar and replaced by a mosque”. (see Annexure 21 : Neville: Barabanki District Gazetteer, Lucknow 1902, p.168-169)

In a comprehensive book written by Hans Baker has described how this temple was destroyed by Babar in 1528 and replaced with the mosque. 14 black stone pillars were used for the mosque, while two were shoved upside down into the ground at the grave of Muslim “Saint” Musa Ashiqan. This so-called “Saint” was the main motivator for Babar to demolish the temple. Baker concluded that the Ram Janmabhoomi temple was one of the oldest in the country and had existed since 12th century.
There is also little doubt that Babar was a barbarian who had massacred numerous people – running in hundreds of thousands – upon entering India.

Even Guru Nanak couldn’t keep quiet after seeing the massacres in Lahore.

But creator Lord takes not the blame upon Himself and so he has made the Mughals Angels of Death.
If the powerful duel with the powerful I grieve not but if a ravenous lion fails upon a flock of sheep then the master must answer.
The jewel of my motherland has been laid waste by, But none shall cherish their memory ‘when they are gone’.
(After the First Invasion in 1519 AD)

And after the Third Invasion in 1520-21, Guru Nanak said:

Babar with the wedding party of sin from Kabul rushed down
And forcibly demanded surrender of Indian womanhood
Then went modesty and righteousness into hiding
And falsehood was strutting about in glory

Also instructive is Babar’s own writing in “BabarNama” about what his goal in “Hindustan” was:

Hasan Khan of Miwat was enrolled in the list of the dead by the force of a matchlock (zarb-i-tufaK) ; most of those headstrong chiefs of tribes were slain likewise, and ended their days by arrow and matchlock (tir u tufafr). Of their number was Rawal Udl Singh of Bagar, 1 ruler (wall) of the Dungarpur country, who had 12,000 horse, Ral Chandraban Chuhan who had 4,000 horse, Bhupat Rao son of that Salahu’d-din already mentioned, who
was lord of Chandlri and had 6,000 horse, Manik-chand Chuhan and Dilpat Rao who had each 4,000 horse, Kanku (or Gangu) and Karm Singh and Dankusi a who had each 3,000 horse, and a number of others, each one of whom was leader of a great Fol. 324*. command, a splendid and magnificent chieftain. All these trod the road to Hell, removing from this house of clay to the pit of perdition. The enemy’s country (daru’l-harb} was full, as Hell is full, of wounded who had died on the road. The lowest pit was gorged with miscreants who had surrendered their souls to the lord of Hell. In whatever direction one from the army of Islam hastened, he found everywhere a self-willed one dead; whatever march the illustrious camp made in the wake of the fugitives, it found no foot-space without its prostrate foe.

All the Hindus slain, abject (khwar, var zar) and mean,
By matchlock-stones, like the Elephants’ lords,
Many hills of their bodies were seen,
And from each hill a fount of running blood.
Dreading the arrows of (our) splendid ranks,
Passed they in flight to each waste and hill.

His way of celebrating victories were gory and inhuman – very much echoing the sorrow that befell Guru Nanak when he saw the ravages from Babar:

An order was given to set up a pillar of pagan heads on the infant-hill (koh-bacha) between which and our camp the battle had been fought.

Given these two facts, it is immaterial if Shri Ram actually was born there or not.

The basic story is:

A place of worship existed. A barbarian on a mission of a Holy War came to India and acted out a most horrible series of massacres and destruction of property – including several temples. Ram Janmabhoomi was one of them.

Looting and destruction of monuments and places, works of art and wealth in countries visited upon by barbarians is not a unique phenomenon to Mughals. A similar thing was done by Hitler as well all over Europe. In Soviet Union itself, 173 museums were plundered by the Nazis.

Since there is a parallel in the personalities of Babar and Hitler – lets for a moment, take an example, which may have happened but didn’t. Hitler enters Jerusalem and destroys the Holy Temple and Al Aqsa mosque and builds a Church which he calls “Hitlerian Church”.

Given what he did and his “contribution” to the world, would it be such a matter of pride to have that Church standing? Wouldn’t it be an violation of the very sensibilities of peaceful human existence to have that monument peak through the holiest of Jewish space?

Of course, some can argue King Solomon or God has nothing to do with that Jewish temple. But does that matter?

The two main questions before the court are –

whether to grant the license to Barbarism to loot and plunder at will, or
send a message that becomes the death-knell for all barbarians and those who want to consider spaces created from loot as legitimate religious heritage – that booty from plunder is not a birth right!

If, the verdict tomorrow is not unequivocally in favor of Ram Janmabhoomi – then it may well be understood that last vestige of any guarantee that civilization with human sensibilities can survive in India has been uprooted.

It is not about whether Ram was born there or not or if Ram was God or not. It is about whether WE, the Indians, want to celebrate our Humanity or celebrate the barbarism of invaders. It is as simple as that.

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