Back To Masjid Vs. Mandir?

A court-mandated survey of the historic mosque leads to further escalation with contested claims of a hidden lingam being discovered. Could Kashi be the new Ayodhya?

- Shreevatsa Nevatia

On May 16, chants of ‘Baba mil gaye’ came to fill the streets out­ side Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque. A court­mandated survey of the masjid had reportedly thrown up evidence strengthening the suspicion of several Hindu believ­ ers and religious outfits: Gyanvapi could have been built on the foun­dation of the famed Vishweshwara Temple that Aurangzeb destroyed in 1669. The floral motifs on the mosque walls were a clue of sorts, but it was, finally, the apparent discovery of a linga­like structure that had devotees excited about parts of a temple lying buried below.

As news spread that a purpor­ ted ‘shivalinga’ had been found inside the masjid compound, Varanasi resident Manju Vyas wanted to immediately go inside Gyanvapi for “darshan”. When told that women weren’t allowed inside Gyanvapi, she retorted, “We’re going to a temple, not a mosque.” Vyas, along with four women petitioners, had moved a local court on August 18 last year, demanding they be allowed to worship Shringar Gauri 365 days a year. Enshrined on a red stone platform that rests on Gyanvapi’s western wall, the goddess is wor­ shipped only on one day of the year—the Chaturthi (fourth day) of Chaitra Navratri.