The famous Wailing Wall or Western Wall in Jerusalem is the only remnant of the Jewish temple built by King Solomon about 3000 years ago. It has all through these three millennia remained a holy site for the Jews. Although it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., it was rebuilt by King Herod. Unfortunately, this Second Temple was demolished by-the Romans in 70 A.D. Thereafter the 35 acre site had to await the building of the Dome of the Rock by Khalifa Umar in 691. Some 25 years later, was built the well known Al Aqsa mosque in the immediate neighbourhood which continues to be looked upon as the third holiest Islamic place after Mecca and Medina.
Incidentally, for a short number of years, in the wake of a Christian victory in one of the crusades, the Dome of the Rock had been converted into a church and named the Holy Domini. The Muslims did not wait too long to reconvert the Dome back into a mosque. The point I am making is the ease and frequency, and above all without embarrassment, with which places of worship have changed hands in Arabia among the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims. This lack of inhibition has also been seen in Europe. Be it when the Moors captured Spain from the Christians or when the latter won back their land. Many more places of worship changed hands in Eastern Europe when the Ottoman Turks took over Albania, Bulgaria as well as Bosnia Herzegovina. But the greatest conversion of churches into mosques took place in Turkey. European historians do not hesitate to write about the incidents. In sharp contrast, our scholars have excluded the desecration of temples when writing the history of India.
The Jews have never forgotten or forgiven the loss of their First Temple in Jerusalem. But not having control over the holy land, there was nothing they could do about it. Even when the state of Israel was established, the old or the cast Jerusalem where the holy sites are located, was not in their hands. It was handed over to Transjordan under the care of King Abdullah in 1948. During the six day war of 1967 however all of Jersualem was captured by Israel.
The public demand for rebuilding the Jewish temple however had to wait till 1990 when an organisation called the Temple Mount faithful led by Gershont Solomon petitioned to the city officials for a permit to lay the cornerstone of a new temple to be called the Third Temple. The Muslims led by Adnan Hussain were panicky. In the process of trying to save the Al Aqsa mosque from the threat of demolition, a large number of Muslims gathered. The result was an enormous clash in which many persons were killed.
Incidentally, the Al Aqsa mosque stands exactly next, to the Wailing Wall. The battle lines are clearly drawn whereby the-Muslims have to fight to defend their third holiest place against an attempt by the Jews on their holiest site. They consider the Temple to be the national centre of the Jewish nation as well as the location of the divine presence on earth. Even the moderates feel offended by the concerned Wakf trying to introduce material reminiscent of an old mosque below the Al Aqsa merely to show that there was no temple there.
Let me not give the impression that this active contest is only as new as 1990. During August 1929, records as quoted by an historical encyclopedia of the Arab Israeli Conflict, Greenwood Press, Connecticut, USA, 1996 shows that several hundred Arabs and Jews were killed in, what was called, the Wailing Wall incident. This was not only much before Israel was born but at a time when the British ruled Jerusalem. Remember the Holy Quran tells the story of Prophet Muhammad's midnight vision of his ascension to meet Allah. This journey took place from Jerusalem which explains why the Muslim sentiments are so attached to Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
Ramjanmabhoomi is no less dear to the Hindus. This is not to justify the demolition of the Babri edifice in 1992. But it is important to note the colossal embarrassment that was experienced amongst large sections of the Indian intelligentsia. To the extent that to this day regrets and apologies are expressed by one side and charge of communalism are leveled by the other. The worst sufferers are facts and history. To this day it has not been established as to who were the demolishers of the Babri edifice. Whether the domes were broken by one set of people and the walls were brought down by another? Or whether the entire structure was the victim of a single conspiracy?
The only established fact about the whole episode is that the current Ram Lalla or infant temple was built by the Central Government during the Governor's rule by December 9, 1992. The rest of the events are clouded in confusion. Most of the persons present on the day of the incident, also immediately before and after, are around to give their version of what happened. There is a commission of inquiry which is dealing with the matter for several years. If despite all this, we cannot get at the truth, when will we ever learn to write true history?
It is amazing that one set of historians has accused another o f a communal bias. This set has accused the other of saffronising history whereas the cold fact is that none has been really Interested in recording the truth. The proof of this lies in the fact that there is no book of Indian history which has recorded, at length and in detail, the, desecration of even some of the thousands of temples that fell victim to the iconoclastic invaders. Incidentally, there is no shortage of source material. The Archaeological Survey of India during the days of the British rule, had surveyed the length and breadth of India. One archaeologist alone, namely, Lt Gen Sir Alexander Cunningham has left behind sufficient surveys of architecture, in north and Central India, that have filled 23 hard bound volumes. These have been published again recently by the ASI and the whole set is available for Rs 5,000.
Then there are the District Gazetteers
written at the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries. These cover almost
every district of undivided India. Most of them are diligently written
with comprehensive details about the condition of the districts, their
buildings, their history, their people and their customs. By themselves,
they can be treated as a treasure house of information if only the followers
of history would free themselves of bias and then cull them.