Excavations show a 10th century temple beneath Babri Mosque site : Counsel in Supreme Court

On the seventh day of the Ayodhya Babri Masjid land (Title) dispute case in the Supreme Court, senior lawyer C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Ram Lala Virajman, on Friday said excavations from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have found distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site.

"It was in the ASI report which stated that it finds distinctive features of a 10th-century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site," he told the five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.

The other four judges in the bench were Justices S A Bobde, Ashok Bhushan, D Y Chandrachud and S Abdul Nazeer.

Vaidyanathan also submitted to the apex Court that ASI report shows the mosque was constructed on the ruins of the temple, even using some of the ruins.

"The archaeological evidence, scriptures and other memorabilia hinted that there are distinctive features found associated with the temples of north India," he said.

In another development, Rajender Singh, who claimed to be one of the descendants of Lord Ram and wanted to be a party in the case, filed a petition before the Supreme Court.

Today's arguments were inconclusive and would continue on Monday when Vaidyanathan will argue and on the fact that the temple existsed there.

"He (senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan) basically tried to show before the Supreme Court from the ASI reports that there was a structure prior to demolition of the mosque and that structure was a very nice big huge temple. It was a pillar based monument," said Vishnu Jain, Lawyer of Hindu Mahasabha.

"Also various photographs and evidence which go to prove that there was an existing monument was produced before the Court and the point that there was a temple there was corroborated by ASI documents," he said.

On August 8, a five-judge bench headed by CJI and including Justices D Y Chandrachud, S A Bobde, Ashok Bhushan and S A Abdul Nazeer, had said that it will hear the Ayodhya title dispute case five days in the week -- from Monday to Friday.

The court is hearing appeals against the September 30, 2010 verdict of the Allahabad High Court in the case.