Stone writ could hold key to Ayodhya

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<h3>Stone writ could hold key to Ayodhya</h3>

 

12TH CENTURY INSCRIPTION HAS VERSES ON RAM AND REFERS TO

'UNIQUE TEMPLE'

AMBIKANAND SAHAY & VINAY PANDEY

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

 

EW DELHI/PATNA: A 12th-century stone inscription

recovered from the debris of the disputed structure at

Ayodhya could hold the key to the resolution of the

temple-mosque imbroglio.

 

Experts believe the 20-line inscription comprising 30 verses in

Sanskrit said to have been embedded in the lower portion of a

wall of the structure that was demolished on December 6, 1992

could provide conclusive proof of the existence of a Ram

temple at the site in the 12th century and even earlier.

 

Although little has been heard of the inscription, believers in its

"magical" power to resolve the dispute include hardcore Sangh

Parivar elements as well as religious leaders among them Puri

Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati who have

been working for a solution to the problem outside the VHP

umbrella.

 

A leading proponent of the "inscription as key" theory has been

Acharya Kishore Kunal, who took voluntary retirement from the

IPS recently and is now vice-chancellor of the Kameshwar

Singh Sanskrit University, Darbhanga. In his younger days as

an IPS officer working in the Union home ministry, he acted as

the Centre's negotiator for the Ayodhya dispute.

 

Acharya Kunal, who was behind the renovation of the Hanuman

temple at Patna, has been arguing that the authenticity of the

inscription could be verified by an independent organisation like

UNESCO. Once that is done, he says, it would be easier to

persuade the Muslim leaders for a solution.

 

According to an article published in the journal, Itihas Darpan,

in 1996, the inscription is written in the Nagari script which was

in vogue in the 12th century. The inscription (verse 5) pays

obeisance to the "janmabhumi of that incarnation of Vishnu

which possesses the highest and most desirable glory in this

world and whose splendour was constantly enhanced by

performing thousands of brave deeds". There could be little

doubt about this incarnation being Ram.

 

The inscription (verse 21) refers to a temple of Vishnuhari built

by King Nayachandra. It says that stone slabs, chiselled out of

solid boulders brought from the mountain peaks, were arranged

to form "a unique temple the like of which had not been

constructed by any other previous king". It adds that the

temple was crowned with a golden kalasa (copula) lending

great beauty to it.

 

The inscription refers twice to the Gahadavala king,

Govindachandra, who reigned in this part of the country from

1114 to 1154 AD. Nayachandra appears to have been a vassal

of the Gahadavala king.

 

The 1.10m x 0.56m buff sandstone, found broken into two

pieces from the debris of the demolished structure, was

inspected by a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey

of India in March 2000 under instructions from the Lucknow

bench of the Allahabad High Court. It has since been kept at

the Ram Katha Kunj under the seal of the high court. Ram

Katha Kunj, which was the office of the VHP in the

Janmabhumi complex, prior to the demolition, is now part of

the land acquired by the Central government on January 7,

1993.

(With inputs from V N Arora in Faizabad)