Author: Ambikanand Sahay &
Vinay Pandey
Publication: Times of India
Date: September 1, 2001
12th Century Inscription has Verses
on Ram and refers to 'Unique Temple'
NEW 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.