DNA Special: Understanding the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque dispute

A Uttar Pradesh court on Thursday allowed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to survey the disputed premises in Varanasi that is claimed by both the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The court directed the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government to bear the cost of the survey. The directive was given by Varanasi First Track Court judge Ashutosh Tiwari.

In this case, Hindu parties say that the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb demolished the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 1669 and built the Gyan Vapi Masjid. That is, the place where the mosque is now located was earlier a real Jyotirlinga dedicated to Lord Shiva. But later Aurangzeb demolished the temple. And built a mosque.

And now the court has ordered the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey to find evidence of the same. And this is a very important decision. 

Five big things about the court order:

1) The court has asked the Archaeological Survey of India to form a five-member team to dig up the Gyan Vapi complex which will lead the survey work. Importantly, the five-man team will also have two members from the Muslim community.

2) The main objective of the survey is to find out whether the Gyanvapi Masjid was built by demolishing, or changing a temple already there.

3) If the investigation finds concrete evidence that there was a temple at the mosque site earlier, the team would have also been told in its report what kind of sculpture the temple had on it, and if there was a temple, which deity's idol was sitting in the temple. This has to be explained also.

4) The five-member team will have the right to visit and conduct an inquiry in any part of the Gyan Vapi campus during the survey. It will be the job of the police to ensure that the team is not prevented from doing so

5) Media persons cannot be present during excavations. The court has allowed only Hindu and Muslim parties to be present during this period. It has also been directed to Photography and Videography.

So these are the five things. This will give a new direction to the matter.

The Varanasi Civil Court had completed the hearing in the case only on April 2 and there are three parties to the ongoing case:

Three parties to the case are the self-styled Jyotirlinga Visve-Swar. That is, God himself is Shiva. Just as Ramlala was sitting in the Ayodhya case, it was the party itself. The court has appointed advocate Vijay Shankar Rastogi as the suit friend of Lord Shiva.

The other side is Sunni Central Wakf Board and the third party is the Anjuman Sanjharia Masjid Committee. This is the committee of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

Let us understand what is the main controversy surrounding the Gyanvapi complex?

-The Hindu side believes that the self-styled Jyotirling of Lord Vishwanath in Kashi is present in the Gyan Vapi complex.

-In 1669, Aurangzeb built the temple as a mosque. It is known as Gyan Vapi Masjid.

-The Hindu side wants to be excavated instead of the Gyan Vapi complex, as the remains of the original shivling and the ancient temple are there.

-The Muslim side says there was no temple there. The mosque which is being disputed stands there from the very beginning.

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple, which is worshipped now, is just a few miles from the Gyan Vapi complex. It was built in the year 1780 by Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780, and not on the original site where a functioning mosque today stands. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the first Sikh Maharaja, had donated 1 ton gold for the new temple’s dome. But since then, the Hindu side has been claimed for the original temple. The case is now under trial in Varanasi District Court.

-The case was filed on behalf of the Hindu side in 1991.

-Three major demands were placed. The first demand was that the entire Gyan Vapi land should be declared as a part of the temple.

The second demand was that Muslims should be evicted from there and the mosque be demolished.

The third demand was that Hindus should be allowed to reconstruct the temple in place of the original Shivling.

The trial which is still going on in the Kashi Vishwanath controversy was started in 1991. That means, it is about 30 years old. But these legal disputes are several decades old. The matter also went to court in 1936 before Independence. Then, not the Hindu side, but the Muslim side had filed a petition in the Varanasi District Court. The petition was filed by a person named Deen Mohammad and demanded from the court that the entire Gyan Vapi complex should be declared as the land of the mosque. The decision came in 1937, in which Deen Mohammad's claim was dismissed. But prayers were allowed at the disputed site. The Hindu side was not made a party in this case. But there were many evidences in this case which are very important.

After the Ahodhya verdict,  the Hindu community hopes that this dispute of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the Gyanvapi Masjid will also be solved.