RAM JANMBHOOMI/BABRI
MASJID AT AYODHYA
AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
ART-HISTORICAL EXAMINATION
INTRODUCTION
As we approach the 'Babri
Mosque', located at the site popularly called 'Ram Janmabhoomi' we see
a simple and modest structure with three domes, the central one bigger
than the two side ones, It is surrounded by two high-rising walls, running
parallel to each other with large open space in between.
I.2- On the high entrance
of the domed structure are fixed two stone tablets, side by side, which
bear two inscriptions in Persian informing us that this structure was built
by one Mir Baqi on the orders os Babur.
I.3- There are 14 pillars
of black stone fixed in this domed structural complex-two are located at
the small entrance in the outer boundary wall on the east, while four are
located in the main door opening into the central part of the domed building;
four each are located in the two walls which separate the central domed
area from the southern and northern domed areas.
I.4- The walls of the
Babri Mosque are made of coars-grained whitish sandstone blocks, rectangular
in shape, while the domes are made of thin and small burnt bricks, Both
these structural items are plastered with thick chunam paste mixed with
coarse sand.
I.5- The 14 pillars,
on the other hand, have been carved out of dark schistose stone with fine
silica grains. The surface is now blackish with bright sheen, as
if polished.
I.6- While the coarse
sand and the bricks used in the mosque are generally of local origin, found
nearly regions, the dark stone, called locally 'Kasauti' or 'touch stone',
is found in far off places only, such as the Himalayan foothills or 'terai'
in U.P. and Nepal.
I.7- It may be mentioned
here that while apparently the mosque does not bear any decoration with
figures of Gods and Godesses, the dark stone pillars have several of them,
besides other sacred motifs.
I.8- It may also be
mentioned that under a national archaeological project, called 'Archaeology
of the Ramayana sites', a team of archaeologists headed by Prof. B.B.Lal,
former Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, excavated this
site from 1975 through 1980 on the immediate south and west of this monument.
We, are, therefore,
faced here with a peculiar situation while the domed structure shows some
architectural features which are peculiar to Muslim architecture, the pillars
show features which are peculiar to Hindu architecture.
In order to understand
this apparently odd situation, archaeologists undertook a detailed examination
of the domed structure as well as the black stone pillars, They have then
supplemented this study with the examination of the material remains which
have been unearthed in the trenches laid in an area which is adjoining
the southern boundary wall of the mosque.
II. THE PILLARS
II.1. In the so-called
'Babri Mosque', built in the 16th centure (1528 A.D.-1530 A.D.), there
are at least 14 stone pillars of a pre-existing structure. The pillars
support the super-structure of some vital parts of the mosque, such as
the arches of the entrances. These pillars are of dark schistose
stone which is of the slate variety. Locally it is called 'Kasauti'
stone or 'touch stone' because, as the tradition goes, against this the
purity of gold could be tested. This stone is found in nature as
rock formations in the lower Himalayas; in the Nepal Terai and the Terai
of Uttar Pradesh. Out of this stone, temple images alone were carved
in the early times. Many of them are still found in the temples of
these very regions, and many others are housed in Museums such as Lucknow
and Allahabad. These images of the so-called Kasauti stone are dated
from the 9th through the 12th century A.D. In other words, till the
11th century no temple was ever built in the around Uttar Pradesh where
this stone was used for pillars of any monument, religious or secular,
and Hindu or Buddhist, or even Jain. Muslims, of course, did not
at all use it here. It is significant to note that this stone is
entirely different from the black basalt stone, generally used for one
kind of Pala sculptures in eastern India, which is an igneous rock.
II.2- There are two
more similar pillars of the black schistose stone. These are found
placed upside down by the side of the grave of one Muslim saint, Fazle
Abbas alias Musa Ashikhan. In the local tradition, he is generally
blaimed for inciting the then authorities, headed by one Mir Baqi, to demolish
the temple at Janmasthan and build a mosque there. It has been mentioned
by different authors, including Hans Bakker, the writer of the famous book
entitled Ayodhya.
II.3- In addition, there
is a door-jamb, resting against a wall in the courtyard of the modern Janmasthan
temple built in the late 18th century,across a road that separated the
'Janmabhumi' from 'Janmasthan'.
II.4- There are also
nearly half-a-dozen Vaishnav images located at various places in the cities
of Ayodhya and Faizabad, besides a number of other images.
II.5- The pillars are
carved at the base with a sacred water-pitcher,called purnaghata or kalash.
It has overhanging creepers with rich foliage, arranged in a highly stylised
form. From this, in one example, a devkanya is seen emerging and
standing on a lotus flower. In another example, at the place of the
devkanya, there is a picture of hamsa with elaborate tail. From this
Kalash, sometimes a decorative lotus rises up on one of the octagonal facets
of a pillar a female figure, standing in tribhanga mudra, is still visible,
although it is found heavily mutilated by the iconoclasts.
II.6- These columns
have sixteen facets, passing into a square at the bases. On all the
four corners of the base of a column we see load-carrying or bharavahaka
Yakshas, sitting with hands down. These are semi-divine beings in
human form shown supporting the kumbhas or vessels out of which the shaft
of the pillar is shown rising.
II.7- The door-jamb
is of the same stone as of the columns, i.e., schistose. It is 115
cms. long and is decorated with scultured figures from top to bottom.
At the base, there is a small arch recess in which one can see a standing
male figure. The image is wearing a Karanda mukuta (or tiara) on
the head, and a vanamala on the bare front body. While the right
hand is in vyakhyana mudra, the left hand is carrying a weapon, trishula.
Above the niche are the two vertical bands of decoration, the rightone
shows the rising creeper motif, divided into two vertically runnign friezes.
The left one contains three figures of devkanyas or apsaras, i.e., nymphs
off heavenly female beings, alternating on the top with gana i.e., demi-divine
male in the dancing pose. These are arranged one above the other,
the uppermost figure is in fact of a salabhanjika i.e.a female(bymph) figure
holding and bending the brach of a blossoming tree. The other apsaras
are also shown standing in simple niches.
II.8- These columns
or pillars can easily be dated on the basis of what we call the science
of Art style, if we carefully look at the forms of various elements of
the above mentioned decorations and also other decorations on them.
We will date them in the early 11th century. Floral and geometrical
motifs such as inter-secting garlands and creepers (the leaves and flowers),
and diamonds and triangles, the globular form of the water pitchers with
moulded mouths, the long hanging garlands, the female figure (body,eyes,nose,and
face) and the architectural features, such as the form of the arch and
the pilasters as well as thin transparent dhotis, conclusively prove that
these pillars were definitely carved in the early 11th centure. These
forms belong to what we sometimes call in art-history 'Late Pratihar' or
'Gahadval' style. We have several examples of similar forms occurring
in temple decorations from different ancient temple-sites in northern India
such as Jamsot.
Evidently, these black
stone pillars or columns belong to an old Hindu temple, these could not
belong to any other religion including Buddhism, since no Buddhist temple
has been built anywhere in India during the 11th century in which Buddha
or a Bodhisattva or Tara or some other God is not present.
III. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION
III.1- Besides the excavations
conducted by Alexander Cunningham in the 19th century at some Buddhist
places in Ayodhya, other than Janmabhoomi, Prof. A.K.Narain of the Banaras
Hindu University excavated Ayodhya in 1969 by laying three trenches at
three different places in the city, considerably away from Janmabhoomi.
From 1975 through 1980, Prof. B.B.Lal, Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, also laid trenches at 14 different places at Ayodhya,
but including one at Janmabhoomi. Some trenches were taken just behind
the Babri Mosque in the west, and some by the south side of th mosque for
detailed archaeological survey of India. The scheme was a part of
a large national project leunched by the Central Government, when Prof.
Burul Hasan was the Minister of Education and Culture. It was called
'Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites'. These 17 trenches yielded the
following select data which have direct bearing on the problem.
III.2- Firstly, the
earliest habitational layer in these trenches, laid directly above the
natural soil, yielded the most beautiful pottery of Indian material culture,
called Northern Black Polished Ware(early period) with silvery and golden
hues. It is fired uniformally at a very high temperature, more than
1000 degree C, which produced not only unique polish, but also unique metallic
sound. It is a dated pottery and it belongs to the 7th century B.C.
III.3- Secondly, there
has been almost continuous human habitation in the Janambhoomi-Masjid area
from the 7th century B.C. upto the 3rd century A.D. Then there occurred
some break in the habitation in the Janmabhoomi area.
III.4- Thirdly, in the
11th century some people constructed a series of rectangular 'bases' or
short pillar- like structures of burnt-bricks, each about 3ft. tall.
This was done by cutting the debris of the earlier periods. These
'bases' were meant for the pillars of a super-structure. These 'bases'
have been found arranged in parallel rows. It is significant to note
that the directional alignment of the 'bases' is the same as that of the
several pillars of black stone found in the mosque.
III.5- Fourthly, a well
laid thick floor, made of pinkish white chundam or like and small kankars
was found running over and across a 'base'. It was found running
even beyond the excavated area, towards the mosque. It is conclusively
proved by the floor material in the section of the trenches. This
is the original 'mosque floor' level.
III.6- Fifthly, below
this topmost floor a thick deposit was found which has yielded Islamic
Glazed Ware sherds of various types and colours including blue, red and
green, which may be dated between the 13th and 15th centuries. It
includes a White Glazed Ware with blue paintings which was prevalent in
Persia in the 15th century, i.e. much before the date of the mosque which
was built in the 16th century.
III.7- Sixthly, there
was a well-laid chunam and kankar floor below this layer, but it was found
running against the 'bases'.
III.8- Seventhly, there
was one more similarly laid floor below this floor, also running against
the 'base'.
III.9- According to
the science of 'Archaeological Stratigraphy', while the top-most floor
belonged to the level and period of the mosque, the lower two floors belonged
to the earlier pre-mosque structure. The fact that instead of one,
there are the remains of two floors of this pre-mosque structure is interesting
since it shows that the floor of the structure was restored almost completely
and at least once.
III.10- Eighthly, at
least in one example the 'base' records the fact of destruction upon the
foundation. It is the evidence of a rectangular pit without its 'brick'
base. It must have been done anciently by laying a 'robber's trench'
by some one interested in demolishing it and removing its bricks for constructing
some other structure.
IV RESULTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK
These kinds of art and
archaeological evidences establish two things:
IV.1- one, the antiquity
of the site of Ayodhya goes back at least to 700 B.C.
IV.2- Second, in the
11th century a large structure on pillars was erected at the site now popularly
called 'Janmabhoomi'. At this very place, now a 16th century mosque
stands. It has 14 black stone pillars, decorated with beautiful floral,
faunal and human carving, largely mutilated. The carvings on them
show that they were carved in the early 11th century. When compared
with similar carvings on the pillars of structures of the 11th century
elsewhere in U.P. we find that these are used in temples made of other
stones, generally buffish sandstone. It is, thus, clear that the
black stone pillars at Janmabhoomi also belonged to a temple. No
secular structure in and around Uttar Pradesh used this stone for pillars.
IV.3- Further, most
of the pillars of the 11th century temples were removed at a later date,
in the early 16th century, although a few of them are still in their original
placement, others are displaced. Originally, there may have been
84 pillars and the area covered by them must have been around seven times
more than that covered by the domed structure of the mosque. |