Author: Prafull Goradia
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 1, 2001
The annual urs at the dargah of
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti ended on 8 October. Over the six day celebration
several lakh devotees visited Ajmer. Considered the greatest among the
Sufi saints, Khwaja saheb came to India in 1161 AD and settled down at
Ajmer, where he lies buried.
A furlong beyond the dargah, I happened
to cross the Tripoli gate which leads to the triple temple complex built
by an ancestor of Prithviraj Chauhan. The complex also contained the Sanskrit
pathshala or school founded by the same Chauhan Vigraharaja III around
1158 AD. He was an avid litterateur who wrote plays. One of these called
Harakeli Natak was carved on plates of black stones which are even today
displayed in the Rajputana Museum at Akbar Fort in Ajmer. Also on exhibition
are rows of pretty carvings numbering about a hundred, brought from the
complex. Another drama similarly found was by a court poet Somadev. The
sand stone statuettes have survived nearly 900 years except that the faces
of all the figures were systematically hacked out. The temple complex also
has a long store room which houses more of the many pretty relics. The
lesser relics litter the compound as if for anyone to take away.
The complex is, for the last 800
years, popularly called "Adhai din ka Jhopra" (the shed of two and a half
days). So called because the triple or the three temples were converted
originally into a masjid over two and a half days. After the second battle
of Tarain (1192 AD) in which Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori defeated and killed
Prithviraj Chauhan, the victor passed through Ajmer. He was so awed by
the temples that he wanted them destroyed and replaced instantly. He asked
Qutubuddin Aibak, his slave general, to have the needful done in 60 hours'
time so that he could offer prayers in the new masjid on his way back.
The Jhopra is the first in the series
of temple desecrations perpetrated by the foreign rulers of India. The
earlier atrocities were by Mahmud Ghazni, who raided but did not stay back
to rule. The triple temples were so attractive that the desecraters chose
to retain all, or most of the pillars. There are 70 of them under the three
roofs, which meet and appear to be one integrated whole. And there are
other pillars beyond the covered edifice, which looks like a pavilion in
splendid stone.
The pillars are some 25 feet high
gorgeously carved either with the exquisite designs up to a height of about
20 feet thereafter with delicate figurines. Uncannily, there is not a single
figure whose face has not been cut off. Nowhere in Europe does one see
such acts of vandalism except what the vandals themselves perpetrated under
their kind Gaiseric in the wake of conquering Rome in 455 AD. Hereafter
the word vandal became a synonym for wilful desecration and destruction.
The figurines on all the relics on display at Rajputana Museum as well
as those salvaged by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) duly locked
in the compound of the Jhopra have been systematically defaced. Amongst
the thousands of stone heads, not a single nose or an eye can be found.
Mind you, the ASI has done nothing
to excavate or salvage anything in the complex since Independence. With
the passing of the Protection of National Monument Act, 1951 all archaeological
activities have been frozen. The credit for the excavations goes to general
Alexander Cunningham and Dr DR Bhandarkar in the first half of the 20th
century. The details are available in the Rajasthan District Gazetteer,
Ajmer, 1966. Muhammad Ghori presumably offered prayers within the stipulated
two and a half days. Subsequently in about 1200 AD the Dhai din ka Jhopra
was completed with a well-carved facade which is best described in the
words of Furher in the Archaeological Survey Report for the year 1893:
"The whole of the exterior is covered up with a network of tracery so finely
and delicately wrought that it can only be compared to a fine lace." Cunningham
described the exterior of the Jhopra even more eloquently: "For gorgeous
prodigality of ornament, beautiful richness of tracery, delicate sharpness
of finish, laborious accuracy of workmanship, endless variety of detail,
all of which are due to the Hindu masons, this building may justly vie
with the noblest buildings which the world has yet produced."
To come back to the Hindu sculpture,
Mulkraj Anand has said, "This relief in Ajmer Museum is carved of intricately
related figures, obviously intended for decorative effect. It rises above
mere adornment by the delicate application of the chisel to achieve a composition
which is compact and balanced." But there was no mention of the pathos
of defacement and desecration. In fact, there is nothing either compact
or balanced about the edifice. The exterior added by Aibak and/or his successors
comprises carvings from the Holy Quran on a yellow and distinctly softer
stone compared to the Hindu edifice behind it. This crudity of effort is
overlooked by Mulkraj Anand presumably as a tribute to his idea of secularism.
Such then was the vandalism with
which the sultanate in Delhi began. As with the Ouwwatul Islam Masjid next
to the Qutub Minar, which was also built by Sultan Aibdk, so with Dhai
din ka Jhopra at Ajmer. Both are indelible specimen of humiliation perpetrated
by the victor upon the vanquished.
