At a time when the Chief Justice of India has called for an out-of-court settlement to the Babri Masjid dispute, K.K. Mohammed, former Regional Director (North), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has suggested that Muslims ask for a university or a hospital to be built in Ayodhya instead of being adamant on their demand on the mosque.
He told The Hindu here on Thursday, “Muslims have no emotional attachment to the mosque. It has nothing to do with the Prophet, caliphs or saints. It was built by a Muslim ruler. That’s all. We have had many mistakes in history. Ghazni, Ghouri, or Aurangazeb, whoever has committed it, we need not defend it. Lets move on,” Mr. Mohammed said.
“The Central government will be more than happy to release funds for a university or a hospital in Ayodhya,” he said.
Mr. Mohammed alleged that it was the Left historians who played a major role in complicating the Babri Masjid dispute, while clarifying that he does not identify himself with right-wing Hindu groups either.
Meanwhile, he reiterated his claim that a Vishnu temple existed in the area where the mosque is located now. Mr. Mohammed said that he was part of a team that was engaged in the excavation of the area and they chanced upon ruins of the temple there in 1977-78.
“I cannot say that it was a Ram temple or the Ram Janmabhumi is located there. But I’m pretty sure that a temple existed in the area as we unearthed a ‘vishnu hari sila phalak,’ which has inscriptions praising Lord Vishnu,” Mr. Mohammed said. There were also ruins of temple pillars, temple doors which had carvings of gods and goddesses and ‘amalka’, a flat stone disc, found on temple ‘stupas’.
“The style of construction of these temple ruins is peculiar to North India. The time of construction must have been between 11th century and 12th century, not earlier than that,” he said.
Mr. Mohammed claimed that he had written about it in 1990 in an English language newspaper. He has mentioned about it in his autobiography, Njan enna bharatheeyan , released in 2016 too. Mr. Mohammed’s major discoveries included Ibadat Khana, where Akbar proclaimed the formation of his composite religion Din-e-Elahi and the first Christian chapel built by the Mughal emperor at Fatehpur Sikri, and a host of Buddhist structures and Hindu temples.
After retiring from the ASI in 2012, Mr. Mohammed served as the project archaeological director, Agha Khan Trust for Culture, Hyderabad.
