The Truth of Babri Mosque

By Ashok Pant

The word Babri was literally used to define something abnormal, out of sense or mad. Three instances mentioned in Babar-Nama support this. Babars journal is replete with precise detail with a telling image or idiom as a bud resembling a sheeps heart, fell like water on fire which lingers in the readers mind long after the event or anecdote has receded. Few of the phrases and words in the Babar Nama are now part of everyday language in India and Pakistan as Namak Haram means lack of trustworthiness, hamesha means always, bakhshish means gift, maidan means plain area, julab means laxative and the most important, which is of our use here, is Babri/Baburi /Bavala means related to unhealthy mental state or mad or abandoned or one who is abnormal. Babar writes about his infatuation, after his marriage in March AD 1500, for a boy as, In those days I discovered myself a strange inclination - no, a mad infatuation-for a boy in the camps bazaar, his name was Babri/Baburi being apposite. Until then I had no inclination of love and a couplet of Muhammad Salih came to my mind:

When I see my friend I am abashed with shame;
My companions look at me, I look away sans aim.

This couplet suited my state of mind perfectly. In that maelstrom of desire and passion, and under the stress of youthful folly, I used to wander, bareheaded and barefoot, through streets and lanes, orchards and vineyards. I showed civility neither to friends nor to strangers, took no care of myself or others. Babar clearly stated that guys name was Bavara as he was of raging and flickering nature and Babar himself became Bavara or crazy for him to attain his sexual proximity.

That is why the term Babri Mosque is specially used only for the construction that was done according to Mughal architecture at Ramjanmabhoomi because it was made for Hindus not for Muslims. Babri Mosque means Mosques of infidels-insane Hindus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475942903

Ashok Pant

Ashok Kumar Pant born in Mumbai, a metro city of Indian subcontinent, in 1972 and is presently residing in Lucknow. Professionally being software engineer, he started his journey of literature from ‘It is Continued’. He devoted himself in writing on the subjects like women psychology and Hinduism. Epics on women psychology written by him under the title of ‘Woman, The myth’ and ‘Woman, The actuality’ reveal actual position of women in the society.

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Copyright © 2012 by Ashok Pant.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-4289-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-4290-3 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 10/22/2012

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CONTENTS

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1.   The Concept Be\hind Religious Places of Different Religions

2.   Initial Period of Different Religions

3.   Brief Description of Solar Dynasty

4.   Importance and Ancientness of Ayodhya in Context of Solar Dynasty

5.   Brief History of North India and Relevant Facts about Ayodhya

6.   Origin, Assumptions and Concept of Islam

7.   Mughal Period in India, A Brief Description

8.   Repent of Babar and the Truth of Babri Mosque

9.   History of Legal Conflict on Ramjanmabhoomi

10.   Report of Liberhan Commission

11.   The Report of Surveys Conducted by A.S.I. with the Shortcomings

12.   Incident of Demolishing of Babri Mosque, Religious Impotency of Hindus

13.   Judgment of High Court on the Issue

14.   History of Destructions of Temples done by the Followers of Islam

15.   Conclusion

I am extremely grateful to Advocate Manish Bajpai, Advocate Manoj Kumar Chauhan and especially to Gunjan Mirpuri who helped me writing this. I am also thankful to my wife Rajani for her due support.

   ". . . while Kafirs (Hindus) were slaughtered And wherever they found pious ancient temples of the Hindus ever since the establishment of Sayyid Salar Mas’ud Ghazi’s rule, the Muslim rulers in India built haram (brothels), mosques, monasteries, and inns; and did everything to spread Islam. Likewise they cleared up Faizabad and Avadh, too from the filth of reprobation (infidelity), because it was a grand centre of Hindus’ spiritual education and capital of Rama’s father. Where there stood a great temple (of Ramajanmbhoomi), there they built a big mosque, . . . Hence what a lofty mosque was built there by king Babar in 923 A.H. (1528 A.D.), under the patronage of Musa Ashiqqan!"

   (Mirza Jan in his memories "Hadiqah-i-Shuhada".)

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PREFACE

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Ayodhya/Ajodhya is an extremely ritualistic and pious zone for Hindus as it is the birth place of Lord Rama of Hinduism while for Muslims, it is mere a symbol of their false ego and cruelty done by autocrats of their faith. Muslims often claim that mosque, illegally and immorally constructed at Ramjanmabhoomi site in Ayodhya after usurping the temple area and destroying it, should be given to them and Hindus must not be allowed to enter there. This has been a subject of contradiction among Hindus and Muslims since past few decades. In fact this is not a subject of debate or argument in-between followers of two faiths instead this is an attempt done by Hindus for survival of the ancient culture and ethics of their true and ancient most religion, which is always hindered by the followers of Islam. For Muslims, the Mosque like structure termed as Babri Mosque is a kind of monument which provide them reminiscence of the cruelty of their own people upon people of other faiths hence provoke them to commit social as well as so called religious crimes. Though somewhere, I described the controversial structure as Babri Mosque but I had clearly mentioned through facts and data that it will be more appropriate to refer it as Babri, Mosque like structure, instead of Babri Mosque because it was never a mosque constructed for the purpose of paying namaz. Similarly somewhere I used term Padshah or emperor or monarch with Babar because scholars did the same but I had clearly mentioned that Babar was never an emperor of Indian land because he was an invader while his son Humayun and further descendents were authentic rulers of India.

It should have been assured at the time of partition that all people affiliated to the community eager for partition would leave India and further no rights of them and their ancestors on any assets in India will be considered but unfortunately the circumstances of that period and political zeal could not provide such thoughts to the Hindu politicians. Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehu and Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi never imagined that such problems like assertions by the Muslims on the Indian land and boundaries under the shade of false tombs and Mosques would be claimed in future otherwise they would have certainly done some arrangement for that. Still it is clear that Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru and Gandhi had a silent verbal agreement with Mr. Jinnah that after partition no Muslim will claim for further partition. Jinnah and his team assured them that they and their followers will never claim for any land or tomb or mosques in future in Hindustan. It was the wording of Jinnah and his followers that they will take responsibility of shifting their alive and demised buried in the land of Hindustan with them. Unfortunately this could not be maintained as Muslims denied accepting this after partition and Hindus ignored this by expressing their utter generosity for Muslims. Muslims took advantage of this and just two years after partition, they started claiming for Ramjanmabhoomi temple area.

From the beginning of Islam till now, it can be seen that majority of its followers believe in false facts about their religion and follow the path of treacheries, brutality and breach of trust, shown by their religiously admired ancestors. India is a country of Hindus or of the followers of the religions originated from Hinduism. Whoever demands anything against the religious ethics of Hindus is a legally wrongdoer and such person must be considered as "Desh Drohi" or a traitor and hence must be punished severely because Hinduism and Hindustan are inseparable parts of each other. Indian Muslims never considered themselves as Indians and hence almost of them are always busy in making intrigues under the shade of Islam. Whenever they seek any issue by which they can defame or suppress Hinduism or can create legal disputes, they start quarreling. As it has been proved that their ultimate origin took place from Hinduism, hence their all efforts are to deny it and blame on Hinduism.

If we talk about the period of after independence and partition of India then we see that the count of mosques made in India is around five thousand times more than the number of temples made in all Islamic countries including Pakistan. As Muslims make graveyard of their demised and pay tribute over there hence such graveyards are also considered as their religious place because they are keeping their dead alive by providing them a part of land. With this perspective, we see that every year they usurp acres of lands for this purpose. This is also a considerable fact because wherever Muslims did construction of Mosques, they first made tombs of their demised on the same area. A Hindu hesitates to make a temple in his own country India but a Muslim habitant never hesitates to construct Mosques in India, where his dwelling must be considered as a kind of encroachment especially after partition. Now every Hindu fears to construct a temple in Pakistan or in any Islamic country and even they are not allowed for this or are killed while Muslims are free to construct Mosques in their countries which are in fact illegally seized and usurped by them. Muslims are forced to live in accordance of the Shariat or Islamic Panel Code in Islamic countries while they are free to break the laws of Shariat in non-Islamic countries and that is the only reason which provokes them for making social chaos, illegal-unlawful activities and terrorism. Muslims, living in non-Islamic countries, should be imposed heavy penalties and should be bounded to live under the codes of Shariat because Quran itself instructs so but unfortunately non-Muslim countries and governments never considers the authenticity of Quran thereby allowing Muslims to create the complications and chaos like the incidence of September 11 2001 happened in New York city of America in which 2977 innocent people died and 19 hijackers responsible for such brutality were declared as martyr by Islam.

When the Mughal invader Babar came down from Kabul in 1525, he first defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the battle of Panipat and then the Rajput King of Chittorgarh, Rana Sangram Singh at Khanwa, making pioneering use of cannon and light cavalry. After these triumphs, Babar took over a substantial part of northern India. One of his generals, Mir Baki Khan came to Ayodhya in 1528 and after reportedly destroying a pre-existing temple of Rama at the site, built the ‘Janmasthan’ i.e. ‘Birthplace’ Mosque. It is said that Mir Baki, after building the mosque, named it Janmasthan Masjid or Babri Masjid to hide his act.

Why Muslims constructed Mosques at the same places where temples were in existence? Why they destroyed temples and used debris of temples demolished by them? Mosques could have been built few kilometers away from temples. Some scholars favor Muslims and say that the demolished parts of temples were used as it was convenient for builders. In fact there were no builders available for such purposes and Hindu artisans were compelled to construct Mosques. The acts of destruction of temples were carried by Muslims and after that, they constructed Mosques at the same places by using the debris material of temples. Such materials, in which the verses or texts of Hindu religion were written or the paintings of deities were made along with the idols of Hindu deities, were buried in the pavement so that people might crush that by feet while their way to Mosques. Mosques were never constructed with the religious intention because hatred opinion of Muslims for idol worshippers and concept of intrigues to create social chaos always existed behind that. First of all temples were destroyed by influential Muslims then they constructed Mosque like structures over there and somewhere used it widely as "harem" or individual brothels. Though the literal meaning of harem was a secret place in the residences where ladies of the house reside and where outsider men were prohibited but this meaning always remained theoretical because Muslims kept captive innocent women in harem and they raped underage girls in the shade of this secrecy. Forcefully converted ladies were kept there and the senior most ladies were appointed to expertise newcomer girls in sexual skills to provide services to men of the house. This was nothing better than a chakla or brothel. Somewhere when they find insecurity, they termed such structures as Mosques so as to get blind support of their people. Hence almost Mosques were initially constructed by Muslims just for the purpose of demolishing Temples and utilizing the reconstructed structures as sarais or inns, tombs, brothels and places for gatherings. Muslims did not do anything different because the same history is of Mecca and Medina. Wherever Muslims did rapes and made harem, they constructed Mosques over there. Jama Masjids were also initially utilized as harem by Muslims then as usual they started offering Namaz over there to achieve fanatic shelter of Islam.

I have mentioned dating references and calculations exactly in the same manner as done by scholars in their extraordinary work. Hence a part of the book contains collection of marvelous work done by different research scholars, exactly in their own terminology. Only those views of the wise scholars are taken which were proved to be genuine and were available through Internet technology (through Internet search engines-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Again as history can not be changed hence somewhere I straightforwardly took historical facts known to everyone from the data available on internet, in which I added the part which was by mistake or intentionally not expressed by eminent historians or authors of the respective articles. I wrote this not to hurt feelings of any individual but just to reveal hidden facts of the history. Distances are measured in metres and kilometres, unit of length in metric system, where one metre is approximately equal to 1.094 yards or 39.37 inches while one kilometer is equal to 1000 metre. Judicial decisions and other references, which are directly taken through Internet, are mentioned under square brackets ([&]) while I expressed my comments on that, within small brackets.

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DATING SYSTEM

AND CALCULATIONS

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Anno Domini mostly abbreviated as AD and Before Christ, abbreviated as BC are designations used to label years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The calendar era to which they refer is based on the conventionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the prime figure in Christianity, with AD indicating years after the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of this epoch. In this, year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC hence there is no year 0 (zero). This dating system was devised in AD 525, but was not extensively used until after AD 800. The term Anno Domini is Medieval Latin, translated as "In the year of Our Lord". It is sometimes specified more fully as Anno Domini Nostri Iesu (Jesu) Christi (In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ).

Conventionally, English has copied Latin usage by placing the abbreviation before the year number for AD; since BC is not derived from Latin it is placed after the year number (for example: 93 BC, but AD 2012 or 2012 AD both are popular). The abbreviation is also generally used after the number of a century or millennium, as in fourth century AD or second millennium AD. Anno Domini is sometimes referred to as the Common Era, Christian era, or Current Era (abbreviated as C.E.). CE is often preferred by those who desire a term not explicitly related to Christian conceptions of time. In the AD year numbering system, whether applied to the Julian or Gregorian calendars, AD 1 is preceded by 1 BC. There is no year ‘0’ between them. For computational reasons astronomers and the ISO 8601 standard use a time scale (astronomical year numbering) in which AD 1 = year 1, 1 BC = year 0, 2 BC = year −1, etc.

The Islamic calendar is based on the emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina, which marks the start of the Hijri year in 622 CE, called Hijra. While considering the original dating of Islamic calendar, the terminology A.H. (After Hijra, Migration) is used somewhere. In Islam a day starts with sunset. The Islamic calendar is dated from the sunset on 15th July AD 622, the start of the Hijra or migration of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.

The Islamic month and their duration are:

1)   Muharram (30 days)

2)   Safar (29 days)

3)   Rabia Awal (30 days)

4)   Rabia Thani (29 days)

5)   Jumada Awal (30 days)

6)   Jumada Thani (29 days)

7)   Rajab (30 days)

8)   Shaaban (29 days)

9)   Ramadan/Ramazan (29 days)

10)   Shawal (30 days)

11)   Dhul Qaada (29 days)

12)   Dhul Hijja (30 days)

Hindus months are as follows:

1)   Chaitra

2)   Vaishakha

3)   Jyaishtha

4)   Ashadha

5)   Shravana

6)   Bhaadra or Bhadrapada

7)   Ashwani

8)   Kartika

9)   Agrahayana or Margashirsha

10)   Pausha

11)   Magha

12)   Phalguna

Determining which name a lunar month takes is somewhat indirect. It is based on the rashi (Zodiac sign) into which the sun transits within a lunar month, i.e. before the new moon ending the month. There are twelve rashi names; there are twelve lunar month names. When the sun transits into the Mesha rashi (zodiac sun sign Aries) in a lunar month, then the name of the lunar month is Chaitra. When the sun transits into Vrishabha (Taurus), then the lunar month is Vaishakh. If the transits of the Sun through various constellations of the zodiac (rashi) are used, then we get Solar months, which do not shift with reference to the Gregorian calendar. Year representation as per Hindu methodology is done in two ways: 1) Shaka (or Shalivahan Samvatsar originated from the period of emperor Kanishka of Kushan dynasty) 2) Vikram Samvat (popular from the period of Chandragupta Vikramaditya). Dates provided in English system in form of A.D. or B.C. can be converted into Hindu systems Shaka by subtracting 78 years in that. For example 634 CE = 634-78 = 556 Shaka. Similarly we can get Vikram Samvat corresponding to this year by adding 57 years in English system.

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CHAPTER 1

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The Concept Behind Religious

Places of Different Religions

Followers of different faiths as Hindus, Muslims and Christians constructed Temples, Mosques and Churches or Synagogues as a symbol of the existence of their religion and the examples of that can be seen in ancient worshipping places. The tradition of constructing such religiously pious monuments started from ancient period and Hinduism was the first religion who took initiative as it was natural because there was no other religion at that period. Related proofs and the comparison of the periods of different religions are mentioned in the next chapter. There was a time when people were afraid of the calamities of the nature and were often distressed by floods, earthquakes, wild animals and fire of forests. It is said by wise scholars that people, for the purpose of securing themselves from such unavoidable disasters, started worshipping nature in the form of deities. This seems to be injustice to the existence of actual form of Gods worshipped at that very ancient period but none can deny from this. In fact Lord Indra and Lord Shiva were always been worshipped by the people in the form of such nature-deities. We guess that religious faith of people was limited to worshipping nature but the deities were still named by the people of that time. The most important God worshipped by people was Shiva, the Lord capable to cause and control any kind of natural devastation. The next popular God was Indra, also described as Purandara or breaker of forts. It is said that Indra was worshipped in Vedic Period but the truth is that Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Lord Indra and female deities were worshipped on the earth from the ancient most period which is beyond our imagination. It was said that Lord Indra was the Lord of rainfall and he had control over calamities caused by excessive rainfall or floods. People of ancient period had a strong faith in Agani Dev, the God of Fire, and even at that time, various items or pure materials were offered to fire especially made for religious purposes. People often performed Homa or sacrifices in fire during their religious prayers and for this they made rectangular or hexagonal Vedi or platform. For the protection of burning fire from wind and rainfall, they started covering that area from premises made by trees and soil. From that period, the concept of temple came into existence. So in fact the history of temples or kind of synagogues in Hinduism is as ancient as the origin of human being is. Lord Varuna was regarded by people as the upholder of the cosmic order. It was assumed at that period and even at present that whatever happened or happening in this world was a reflection of his desires. Usha was worshiped as the goddess of dawn. Worshipping her only was supposed to be worshipping all female deities as it was assumed that all Goddesses reside in her and this was a normal custom because in different periods of ancient history, we can see that sometimes all female deities were worshipped as Ma Kali and sometimes as Bhagwati etc. Thus female deities were worshipped in different forms in different periods and they were collectively named as Devi, Usha, Bhagwati, Kali etc. If we talk about the male deities then almost everywhere people were worshipping sharp curved black stones as a symbol of MahaKaal, oval shaped black stones as a symbol of Lord Shiva and spherical red stones as a symbol of Lord Sun (later mostly used as Lord Hanuman) etc. Initially people started worshipping Lord Hanuman to protect themselves from evil powers or ghosts. True Islamic people, who are aware of the truth of their religion, can be seen worshipping Lord Hanuman in the form of "Bandar" or red monkey. When after a very long period other religions like Christianity and Islam originated and followers of these religions started copying the concept of Hinduism, the construction of Churches and Mosques took place. There were different opinions of the followers in context of constructing religious places and we can comprehend that as follows:

Hindus’ opinion behind constructing Temples:

In Hinduism, the custom of constructing temples took place when there was absence of other religions hence we can say that concept of synagogues started from Hinduism. As mentioned earlier, initially temples were made in the form of barricading to protect pious stones worshipped as idol of Gods and sacrifices were offered through fire. These were protected from rainfall and storms so that religious sacrifices may be performed without hindrances. This took a form of custom and people in future started constructing temples. The wide scale of temples took the form of Ashram where pupil gathered to gain education or religious preaching from Gurus. All the temples of India belonging to ancient period or medieval period were made exactly on the places where sacrifices were being made since extremely long period and all such places were very sacred and were fit from the point of view of Vastu Shastra, though people may be skeptical regarding this fact as few scholars assume that the origin of the stream of Vastu Shastra has nothing to do with ancient theology of Hinduism. Temples were never utilized in immoral and illegal activities and it was never seen that any kind of religious enmity with the followers of other religions is taught to Hindus in temples. Temples were always used as a kind of orphanage or shelter for the people who were in trouble. It is true that there was a period when people of lower caste and women were prohibited to enter in temples but the reason for that was very clear though people of other faiths and few Hindus always criticize Hinduism on these subjects. Ladies were prohibited to enter in religious premises during their menstruation period while in few temples they themselves performed worshipping deities from outside the boundaries. Such restrictions were also seen in the temples of lord Hanuman but the reason was entirely different. Somewhere ladies were not permitted in temples with the thought to secure the pious area from the lust of them. It was essential because it can be seen that almost adultery takes place in Churches where Christian ladies are freely involved in making illicit sexual relations with father or the authorities of Churches. Similarly Mullahs or Muslim priests in mosques are often seen involved in sodomy with underage orphan guys. Even during Mughal period, Muslim ladies started offering namaz and visiting their mosques or Mecca as they were highly inspired by the Hindu ladies paying their religious obligations. The intention with prohibiting people of lower castes does not mean that they were kept out of religious praying or were restricted to perform rituals. In fact it was strictly mentioned so that people may enter in temples after being purified. The restriction was for people involved in specific trades not to people of some category. If it seems that people of some category were forbidden then this is mere misinterpretation of religious sayings. It can still be said that people involved in selling animal flesh or involved in leather work like making slippers etc were restricted because they were not considered to be pure. People of the aforementioned parental background, who left their parental profession and adopted other occupation, were never forbidden to enter in temples. Such restrictions became popular after the invasion of Islamic tyrants in India especially from Mughal rule. The reason of this is clearly mentioned in forthcoming chapters. In Shuklayajurveda (Chapter/Adhyaya 2, Shloka 11) it is clearly mentioned as:

Brahamanoasayamukham   Shudroaajayat.

Brahaman took birth from the mouth of Lord (God), Kshtriya took birth from his arms, Vaishya took birth from his thighs and Shudra took birth from his feet. Similar description done in various religious literature of Hinduism clarified this. That is the reason behind people worshipping God by touching the feet of idols thereby giving prime respect to Shudra. Even priests of temples also touch feet of deities. Hence Shudras were never and could never be forbidden to enter in the temples. If it is said that low cast people are prohibited to enter in the temples then cause has nothing to do with low origin as it only instructs for physical as well as mental purity. Same description is done in Vedas and Balmiki Ramayana. I would like to mention few verses from Balmiki Ramayana (Balkand).

Pathan dwijo   Shudroapi mahtwameyaat.

Which literally means that people of all category including Shudra of lowest cast are authorized to read Balmiki Ramayana as well as other religious texts.

Tatoabreet dwijen   Rajsaashanaat.

Sage Vashisth instructed people of all castes to take part in different activities of yajna/yagya (top religious offering).

Tatah sumantramahaya   Sahasraha.

He ordered to invite people of all castes to take part in the greatest religious offerings.

Sara varna   Kaamkrodhavashadapi.

He ordered that people of low caste should be specially treated and no discrimination should be done on the basis of castes.

Such description is done hundreds of times which clearly indicate that people were categorized on the basis of their work and it had nothing to do with their low origin.

According to opinions of some wise scholars, temple construction in India started nearly 4000 years ago though few ancient most temples are dated around 6000 years ago. Temple ‘Patal Bhubnehswar’ and Sun temple of Uttrakhand are of the period that is beyond the imagination of scholars. ‘Patal Bhubneshwar’ is a natural temple situated in Bhubneshwari village, seven kilometer away from Guptadi, in between the route of Berinag to Gangolihat. Sun temple is situated at Katarmal, near Kosi, where Govind Bhallabh Pant Institute of Ecology is in existence. The early 11th century Sun Temple at Modhera is one of the finest. Popular Sun temple is that of Odissa, and as a custom, regular praying is not done in Sun temples because lord Sun is existing deity. My father Pt. Ramesh Chandra Pant visited there along with Sri Rahul Sankratyayan (great author) and informed me about its ancientness. Naturally the oldest temples that were built of break and wood no longer exist but ancient temples were made exactly on those places hence we can conclude that all of the ancient temples existing at present are in fact more that 6000 years old. Stone made bricks later became preferred material. Temples marked the evolution of Hinduism from the Vedic religion of ritualistic sacrifices to a religion of bhakti or devotion to a personal deity. Again temples in Hinduism were never utilized to harm the people of other faiths because they were mere symbol of religious devotion and dedication. Many Hindu temples are known by different names in different parts of the world, depending upon the language. The word Mandir is used in many languages including Hindi, and is derived from a Sanskrit word Mandira or house of a deity. As per the views of few brilliant scholars, the word Masjid in Islamic trend originated on behalf of this. There are four basic types of temples:

1)   Vesara style—North Indian temples.

2)   Dravidian style—South Indian temples.

3)   Nagara style—with mixed culture.

4)   Gumbad (Minaret) style temples constructed under Islamic architecture.

A characteristic of most temples is the presence of murtis or images or idols of the Hindu deities to whom the temple is dedicated. They are usually dedicated to one primary deity, the presiding deity, and other subordinate deities associated with the main deity. In almost effective temples, space is left around the temple so that devotees may go around it in clockwise fashion circumambulation as a mark of respect.

North Indian temple architecture, style of architecture produced throughout northern India and as far south as Bijapur district, characterized by its distinctive sikhara, a superstructure, tower, or spire. The style is sometimes referred to as Nagara, a type of temple mentioned in the Silpa-sastras (traditional canons of architecture), but exact correlation of the Silpa-sastra terms with extant architecture has not yet been established.

The typical Hindu temple in northern India, on plan, consists of a small square-shaped sanctuary (called the garbhagraha, or womb-room) housing the main image, preceded by one or more adjoining pillared mandapas (porches or halls), which are connected to the chamber by an open or closed vestibule (antarala). The entrance doorway of the sanctum is usually highly decorated with figures of river goddesses and bands of floral, figural, and geometric ornamentation. An ambulatory is sometimes provided around the sanctum. Above the main sanctuary rises a spire (or sikhara), which is usually curvilinear in outline, and smaller rectilinear sikharas of the phamsana type frequently top the mandapas as well. The whole may be raised on a terrace (jagati) with attendant shrines at the corners. If a temple is dedicated to the god Shiva, the figure of the bull Nandi, the God’s mount, invariably faces the sanctum, and, if dedicated to the god Vishnu, standards (dhvaja-stambha) may be set up in front of the temple. The centre of each side of the square sanctum is subjected to a gradated series of projections, creating a characteristic cruciform plan. The exterior walls are usually bedecked with figures of deities, with the main images of the deities placed in niches carved on the main projections. The interior is also frequently richly carved, particularly the coffered ceilings, which are supported by pillars of varying design.

The prototype of the North Indian temple already existed in the 6th century can be seen in existing temples such as the temple at Deogarh, Bihar state, which has a small stunted sikhara over the sanctuary. The style fully emerged in the 8th century and developed distinct regional variations in Orissa, central India, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. A classification of North Indian temples is generally made on the basis of sikhara types, such as the rectilinear phamsana and the curvilinear latina, with its two variations, the sekhari and the bhumija. One typical form of the North Indian style is seen in the early temples at Orissa, such as the graceful 8th-century Parasuramesvara Temple at Bhubaneswar. From the 10th century a characteristic Oriya style developed that exhibited a greater elevation of the wall and a more elaborate spire. The Lingaraja Temple at Bhubaneswar, of the 11th century, is an example of the Oriya style in its fullest development. The Sun temple at Konarak, the sanctum of which is badly damaged, is the largest and perhaps the most famous Oriya temple.

There were around three hundred and fifty-three small temples and thirteen huge temples of Gumbad (Minaret) style, constructed under the influence of Islamic architecture. These small temples were made with the intention that Muslim invaders might not destroy them and Hindus might carry their offerings without hindrances. One of the biggest temple of this style is Ramjanmabhoomi temple of Ayodhya which is known as ‘Masjid-i-Janmasthan’ or ‘Babri mosque’ about which fanatic Muslims now proclaim that it was a mosque.

A development from the simpler to a more elevated and elaborate style is evident in central India with multiple tenets, is more favored from the 10th century onward. Interiors and pillars are more richly carved than in Orissa. The Central Indian style in its most developed form appears at Khajuraho, as seen in the Kandarya Mahadeva Temple (11th century). Large numbers of temples are preserved in Gujarat, but most of them have been almost damaged.

Islamic opinion behind constructing Mosques:

A mosque or masjid is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French (mosquee), from Portuguese (mesquita), from Spanish (mezquita), and from Berber (tamezgida), ultimately originating in Arabic: masjid. They diffused into a majority of India only during the reign of the Mughal Empire in