Letter to BS: Yogi govt starts ringing the temple bells in Uttar Pradesh

This refers to “BJP starts ringing temple bells” (August 27). The belief is that the mosque in Ayodhya, demolished in 1992, was constructed in 1528 under the orders of the first Mughal emperor Babar after demolishing a Ram temple that existed at that site earlier. It is, however, not clear as to what is the basis of the belief. 

One of the greatest Ram devotees and the author of his legendary biography Ramcharitmanas was Tulsidas. He commenced writing this great epic in Vikram Samvat 1631 (1573 AD) in the same city of Ayodhya at a spot not far from where the mosque stood. The mosque was just 45-years-old when Tulsidas started writing. If it had been constructed after the demolition of the sacred Ram temple, Tulsidas would have known it and his distress on that account would have found expression in his story. Tulsidas, on the contrary, goes into ecstasy when describing the place of Ram’s birth. He did not wail that a mosque stood on that sacred spot. So, if Tulsidas had no reason to believe that his beloved Lord Ram's birth place had been decimated, what reason do we have to raise this issue now? 

It is a matter to be researched by qualified historians before we make it such a major political issue.

RC Mody New Delhi

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