Ram Janmabhoomi: Encyclopedia II - Ram Janmabhoomi - Archaeology of the site

Ram Janmabhoomi - Archaeology of the site

Ram Janmabhoomi - Archaeological studies in the 1970s: Project Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites

Between 1975 and 1985 an archaeological project was carried out in Ayodhya to examine some sites that were connected to the Ramayana story. The Babri Mosque site was one of the fourteen sites examined during this project. The team of archaeologists of the ASI, led by B.B. Lal, found rows of pillar-bases which must have belonged to a larger building than the Babri Mosque. Archaeological findings of burnt-brick pillar bases a few metres from the mosque indicate that a large temple stood in alignment with the Babri Mosque since the 11th century. (B.B. Lal (Manthan, 10/1990) and S.P. Gupta (Indian Express, 2/12/1990), and annexure 28 to the VHP document Evidence for the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir. ) In a trench at a distance of four metres south of the mosque parallel rows of pillar-foundations, made of brick-bats and stones, were found. (Professor B. B. Lal, in the Hindu: 1 July 1998.)

Professor Gupta later commented on the findings of the period prior to 1990: „ Several of the temple-pillars existing in the mosque and pillar- bases unearthed in the excavations conducted in the south of the mosque (although in the adjoining plot of land) show the same directional alignment. This will convince any student of architecture that two sets of material remains belong to one and the same complex.“ (Indian Express, 6/12/90)

Ram Janmabhoomi - June to July 1992

In July 1992, eight eminent archaeologists (among them former ASI directors Dr. Y.D. Sharma and Dr. K.M. Srivastava) went to the Ramkot hill to evaluate and examine the findings. These findings included religious sculptures and a statue of Vishnu. They said that the inner boundary of the disputed structure rests, at least on one side, on an earlier existing structure, which “may have belonged to an earlier temple”. (Indian Express, 4.7.1992.) The objects examined by them also included terracotta Hindu images of the Kushan period (100-300 AD) and carved buff sandstone objects that showed images of Vaishnav deities and of Shiva-Parvati. They concluded that these fragments belong to a temple of the Nagara style (900-1200 AD).

Prof. S.P. Gupta commented on the discoveries: "The team found that the objects were datable to the period ranging from the 10th through the 12th century AD, i.e., the period of the late Pratiharas and early Gahadvals. (....) These objects included a number of amakalas, i.e., the cogged-wheel type architectural element which crown the bhumi shikharas or spires of subsidiary shrines, as well as the top of the spire or the main shikhara ... This is a characteristic feature of all north Indian temples of the early medieval period (...) There was other evidence - of cornices, pillar capitals, mouldings, door jambs with floral patterns and others - leaving little doubt regarding the existence of a 10th - 12th century temple complex at the site of Ayodhya." (Narain, Harsh. 1993. The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute)

Ram Janmabhoomi - 2003: The ASI report

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavated the mosque site at the direction of the Allahabad Bench of the Uttar Pradesh High Court in 2003. The archaeologists reported evidence of a large 10th century structure similar to a Hindu temple having pre-existed the Babri Masjid. A team of 131 labourers including 29 Muslims was engaged in the excavations. In June 11 2003 the ASI issued an interim report that only listed the findings of the period between May 22 and June 6 2003. In August 2003 the ASI handed a 574-page report to the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The ASI, who examined the site, issued a report of the findings of the period between May 22 and June 6 2003. This report stated: “ Among the structures listed in the report are several brick walls ‘in east-west orientation’, several ‘in north-south orientation’, ‘decorated coloured floor’, several ‘pillar bases’, and a ‘1.64-metre high decorated black stone pillar (broken) with yaksha [= demigod] figurines on four corners’.” (Sandipan Deb in Outlook India, 23 June 2003). Earlier reports by the ASI, based on earlier findings, also mention among other things a staircase and two black basalt columns ‘bearing fine decorative carvings with two crosslegged figures in bas-relief on a bloomed lotus with a peacock whose feathers are raised upwards’.

The ASI report of August 25, 2003 stated that there was evidence of a large Hindu temple having pre-existed the Babri mosque. The ASI report mentions a huge structure (11-12th century) on which a massive edifice, having a large pillared hall (or two halls), with at least three structural phases and three successive floors attached with it was constructed later on. The report also stated that "there is sufficient proof of existence of a massive and monumental structure having a minimum of 50 x 30 metre in north-south and east-west directions respectively just below the disputed structure". The ASI report of 2003 concluded that: "Viewing in totality and taking into account the archaeological evidence of a massive structure just below the disputed structure and evidence of continuity in structural phases from the tenth century onwards up to the construction of the disputed structure along with yield of stone and decorated bricks as well mutilated sculpture of divine couple...., fifty pillar bases in association of the huge structure, are indicative of remains which are distinctive features found associated with the temples of north India."

Period 1000BC to 300BC:

The findings suggest that a Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) culture existed at the mosque site between 1000 BC and 300 BC. A round signet with a legend in Asokan Brahmi , terracotta figurines of female deities with archaic features, beads of terracotta and glass, wheels and fragments of votive tanks have been found. ( Pioneer, 9th September 2003. Ayodhya: lost and found By Sandhya Jain)

Sunga Period. 200 BC:

Typical terracotta mother goddess, human and animal figurines, beads, hairpin, pottery (includes black slipped, red and grey wares), and stone and brick structures of the Sunga period have been found. (Pioneer, 9th September 2003. Ayodhya: lost and found By Sandhya Jain)

Kushan period. 100-300 AD:

Terracotta human and animal figurines, fragments of votive tanks, beads, bangle fragments, ceramics with red ware and large-sized structures running into twenty-two courses have been found from this level. (Pioneer, 9th September 2003. Ayodhya: lost and found By Sandhya Jain)

Gupta era (400-600 AD) and post-Gupta era:

Typical terracotta figurines, a copper coin with the legend Sri Chandra (Gupta), and illustrative potsherds of the Gupta period have been found. A circular brick shrine with an entrance from the east and a provision for a water-chute on the northern wall have also been found. (Pioneer, 9th September 2003. Ayodhya: lost and found By Sandhya Jain)

11th to 12th century:

A huge structure of almost fifty metres in north-south orientation have been found on this level. Only four of the fifty pillar bases belong to this level. Above this lied a structure with at least three structural phases which had a huge pillared hall. (Pioneer, 9th September 2003. Ayodhya: lost and found By Sandhya Jain)

Ram Janmabhoomi - Radar search

In the winter of 2002-2003, Canadian geophysicist Claude Robillard performed a search with a ground-penetrating radar by the company Tojo Vikas International Ltd. It concluded that “there is some structure under the mosque”. Robillard stated that "there are some anomalies found underneath the site relating to some archaeological features.(...) You might associate them (the anomalies) with pillars, or floors, or concrete floors, wall foundation or something. (...) These anomalies could be associated with archaeological features but until we dig, I can't say for sure what the construction is under the mosque. (Rediff.com, 19 March 2003)

Ram Janmabhoomi - Inscriptions

Hari-Vishnu inscription:

During the demolition of the Babri mosque in December 1992, three inscriptions on stone were found. The most important one is the Hari-Vishnu inscription inscribed on a 1.10 x .56 metre slab with 20 lines that was provisionally dated to ca. 1140. The inscription mentioned that the temple was dedicated to "Vishnu, slayer of Bali and of the ten-headed one" [Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu who is said to have defeated Bali and Ravana]. The inscription is written in the Nagari Lipi script, a Sanskrit script of the 11th and 12th century. It was examined by world class Epigraphists and Sanskrit scholars (among them Prof. A.M. Shastri).

Ajay Mitra Shastri, Chairman of the Epigraphical Society of India and a specialist in Epigraphy and Numismatics, examined the Hari-Vishnu inscription and stated:

Ram Janmabhoomi - Pillars

In the Babri Mosque were at least fourteen stone pillars that have been dated to the early 11th century and more pillars were found during excavations buried in the ground near the mosque.

Two similar pillars were also found placed upside down by the side of the grave of Fazle Abbas alias Musa Ashikhan. This Muslim saint was the person that incited Mir Baqi to destroy the Janmasthan temple and build a mosque on it. (Hans Bakker: Ayodhya)

Ram Janmabhoomi - Controversy of the archaeological findings

Many Muslim and Marxist historians dispute the finding of ASI report, such as Dr Sushil Shrivastava in his review of ASI report [1].

Richard M Eaton, an American historian of medieval India, in his controversial Essays on Islam and Indian History (ISBN 0195662652) documents desecration of all Hindu temples between 1192 and 1760. The total adds up to 80. Eaton in his book does not claim that this list is exhaustive. Furthermore, each of theses 80 cases represents the destruction of not just one, but of a large number of temples. For example one of these 80 cases, the “1094: Benares, Ghurid army” case, refers to the Ghurid royal army that “destroyed nearly one thousand temples, and raised mosques on their foundations”. This figure of 80 cases doesn't include a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

According to a study by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2003, conducted on the orders of the Indian Supreme Court, the evidence indicates that a Hindu temple did exist at the site prior to the construction of the mosque. This study was ignored or disputed by some Muslims and Marxists. Press reports tended to underplay its importance, and often even stated that the ASI report (of the findings of the period May 22 to June 6 2003) didn't find anything. Sandipan Deb commented on the ASI report: “While most papers covering the new ASI report last week said that it claims there was no structure under the Babri Masjid, what the report actually says is that of the 30 recent trenches, the team has found man-made structures in eight, and none in 16. In five, they couldn’t decide due to ‘structural activities in the upper levels’ (mainly the plinth of the Babri Masjid). One trench they did not survey. Among the structures listed in the report are several brick walls ‘in eastwest orientation’, several ‘in northsouth orientation’, ‘decorated coloured floor’, several ‘pillar bases’, and a ‘1.64-metre high decorated black stone pillar (broken) with yaksha figurines on four corners’. (Outlook India, 23 June)

On the question whether Babri Masjid stands at the site of the alleged Ram Janam Bhoomi temple, the historian and son of former president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Prof. S. Gopal, in a lecture delivered in Madras in May 2004 claimed, "So far no evidence has been found to support the claim the Babri Masjid was constructed on the land that had been earlier occupied by a temple." He asserted, "In Ayodhya to-day there are still about 30 places where Rama was claimed to have been born." Some critics of the ASI report further point out that the impartiality of the Director General of the ASI was in question since he had been appointed by a government whose leaders, they claim, were responsible or at least colluded, and certainly failed, to stop the destruction of the mosque. Some also claimed that India's leading archaeologists were kept away from the dig, however the excavations were carried out or examined by leading archaeologists, among them Prof. Gupta and many other archaeologists examined the findings.

There are Marxist historians who say the entire town of Ayodhya was settled by Buddhists, not Hindus, and the town had a large number of Buddha viharas (Buddhist shrines). Remains of some Buddhist shrines may be found in excavations, but they are unrelated to Hindu claims.

In 2003 it was alleged by the Marxist paper People's Democracy that the Hari-Vishnu inscription would correspond to an inscription dedicated to Vishnu that was supposedly missing in the Lucknow State Museum since the 1980s. The museum director Jitendra Kumar however stated that the inscription had never been missing from the museum, although it wasn't on display and he showed the inscription of his museum at a press conference for all to see. It was different in shape, colour and text contents from the Vishnu-Hari inscription. (Hindustan Times, 8 May 2003). In addition, there are photographs that show the Kar Sevaks carrying a huge stone-slab bearing a sculpted frieze (e.g. In India Today, 31. December 1992: p.33). And the inscription has been examined by many leading epigraphists like Prof. Ajay Mitra Shastri.

There were also attempts by Babri Masjid supporters to prohibit all archaeological excavations at the disputed site. Naved Yar Khan's petition at the Supreme Court to prohibit all archaeological excavations at the Mosque site was rejected. (The Hindu, 10 June 2003)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Archaeology of the site", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki