25 YEARS AFTER BABRI MASJID

Masjid dispute—in Madhya Pradesh and

That Fateful Day in Himachal Pradesh and barely survived
in Rajasthan, though with a greatly re-
How the Nation Survived duced majority, largely because its chief
minister, the late Bhairon Singh Shekha-
wat had prudently kept aloof from Ad-
Harbans Mukhia vani’s yatra. The BJP government at the
centre was sworn in not in the aftermath

S
The Babri Masjid was demolished ix December 1992. The fateful day of the demolition but in 1998, six long
a quarter century ago but it is that brought home the image of years after the demolition. The rise of the
the end of the world, at least the BJP was owing to several other develop-
evident today when we look back
end of the nation as we had known it. ments rather than the fruition of the
that much more than the What else would befall the nation whose rath yatra and 6 December.
demolition of a 16th century very survival now faced a question mark, The decade of social peace between
building is involved. There is a was the thought that haunted us, reared 1992 and 2002 and the BJP’s defeat in the
as we were on the notion of secularism 1993 elections has left a very significant
well-thought-out, fully evolved
that almost coincided with atheism and lesson. The primary one at least for me is
and hardly concealed plan to of the separation of state and religion. that atheistic secularism could not save the
deprive India of the heritage that Clouds turned darker when bomb blasts nation from inflicting wounds on itself; it
has let it survive tempestuous in Bombay (now Mumbai) in March 1993 was a notion of culture and world view en-
ripped apart the last and the slimmest riched by history, especially medieval his-
interventions and retain its
hope of pulling together. An edifice of an tory that brought us back from the brink.
pluralist fabric. But then the idea and an ideal built over a lifetime
people are bigger than state came crashing down. Competing Forms of Worship
power as well as any partial A few weeks later, a glimmer of hope Medieval India had brought us face-to-face
began to show up when news started with two rival notions of god and two
social base.
filtering in from small towns and remote competing forms of worship: Hinduism
localities that Hindus and Muslims there and Islam. In the face of Hinduism’s innu-
had got together to rebuild the mosques merable gods and goddesses and equally
and temples that had been destroyed or numerous forms of worship, Islam brought
damaged and had resolved to ensure the concept of a single god and a single
that no outsider could enter their locality form of worship. The ideal of social set-up
to create communal tension. After the that ensued from the two also varied
Bombay incidents, riots had begun to widely. Thus, besides the battles for ter-
subside and social peace remained in ritory and power and the ensuing blood-
place in the absence of large-scale riots shed as well as accommodation within
over the next decade, until 2002 in Gujarat the structure of power and authority, in
where the state administration’s abetment the religious and social milieu, contact and
has been a living memory. assimilation prevailed even as tensions too
Another living memory has been the were part of it. It is significant that in the
enormous electoral dividends that the midst of so much bloodshed in the intra-
demolition of the Babri Masjid had as well as inter-community conflicts at the
brought to the Bharatiya Janata Party political plane, there is no record of what
(BJP), which was after all the immediate we know as communal riots anytime from
object of the disaster-courting rath around 1200 (establishment of the Delhi
yatra taken out by L K Advani. Remem- Sultanate) to the first quarter of the 18th
ber his public statement at the height of century, when the Mughal state had
the frenzy of the yatra “I am a political, started to run its downward course. The
not a religious leader?” But did the dem- first communal riot was recorded in
olition actually yield the BJP the divi- 1713–14 in Ahmedabad on the day of Holi
dends it was looking for? Assembly elec- revelry, instigated by two rivals in the
Harbans Mukhia ([email protected]) tions were held in the Hindi belt in 1993. jewellery business, one Hindu and the
taught medieval history at JNU and is editor of The party lost in Uttar Pradesh—the other Muslim. This was brought under
the Medieval History Journal.
home of the Ram Janmabhoomi–Babri control within two days (Khan 1927–30).
Economic & Political Weekly EPW DECEMBER 2, 2017 vol lIi no 48 25
25 YEARS AFTER BABRI MASJID

Over the entire 18th century there were the father told him he would under- It, however, happens that as a person,
five such riots of the sort that occur around stand it only when he grew up. Both I still remain a devout atheist.
500 times a year under the aegis of the Fazl and Haqq (and his grandfather)
independent, secular state (Umar 1993). knew that Kabir was not a muwāhidd in Neither Evidence Nor Links
I believe the driving force of the pro- the accepted sense of an adherent of The history of the Ram Janmabhoomi–
longed social peace in India’s medieval tauhīd, monotheism, equivalent here to Babri Masjid has been written about
centuries was the evolution of a new Islam. Among the several meanings of extensively by now. My own research on
religious ideology at the ground level in tauhīd and a movement named al-Mohd the theme based entirely on medieval
the vernacular languages, the ideology in the 12th century Morocco founded by Indian sources is summarised here. The
generically known as the bhakti ideology. Ibn Tumart which led to the short-lived first and most decisive evidence of the
It is interesting that even as the Sanskrit al-Mohd Caliphate and empire and which construction of what came to be known
binary buddhijīvī and shramjīvī neatly had sought to return Muslim society to its as Babri Masjid was inscribed on the outer
divides society into two halves, each with pristine puritanical state (Encyclopedia and the inner walls of the masjid in the
a clear-cut function, the one ideology, of Islam 1997), the binding thread was form of verses in the Persian language. A
product of buddhi, which ensured the most that all these were confined within the S Beveridge, translator of Babur’s massive
durable social harmony, was the creation fold of Islam, attempting to “purify” Islam memoirs into English, has taken note of
of shramjīvī’s par excellence, illiterate or of all the “un-Islamic” elements that had these verses and given the translation
at best semi-literate people at the lower crept into it since Muhammad’s time (not her own) of part of the first and the
rungs of society living entirely by their (Siddiqi 2012). Kabir broke this barrier whole of the second set. The first set is
manual labour; it is hard to encounter a and sought to understand tauhīd beyond In the name of One who is Omniscient
sturdier refutation of the binary. Faced with the established religions, where he could Creator of the Worlds (but) Himself abode-less
In salutation to the Prophet, beyond all praise
dichotomous denominational religions, boldly announce that he was neither a
The Chief among prophets of the two worlds
Hinduism and Islam, each as the other’s Hindu nor a Muslim but a devotee of the Narrating to the world the story of Babur the
firmest negation, the bhakti movement one supreme being. Fazl, who created recluse
substituted for it a new dichotomy, one the ideological architecture of Akbar’s Who has attained to the height of worldly
of a single universal god in lieu of compet- empire, premised his notion of sulh-i kul, success.
ing, almost warring Ishwar and Allah. absolute (or universal) peace, on this If Beveridge did not give the transla-
This concept either stood above both gods notion of universal god, dichotomous with tion of the whole verse, she still cautioned
or assimilated both in a single unity. In denominational gods. Mirza Ghalib, the against “read[ing] any further meaning
lieu of rituals-filled denominational reli- great poet, defines himself as a muwāhidd into it, for the language would not
gions, bhakti created a notion of inclusive in exactly the same sense: “I am a warrant it” (Bābur-Nāma 1922).
universal religiosity. Many bhakti poets muwāhhid, my religion is renunciation The second set of verses reads in English
propagated this ideology, but Kabir stands of customs; when communities are era- translation as follows:
out tallest among them. Even as he ridi- sed, they become parts of the (true) faith” By the command of Emperor Babur
culed all rituals of both religions, a certain (Dīwān-i Ghālib 1999: 85). whose justice is an edifice reaching up to
distance between Hindu polytheism and A variant of this notion is Gandhiji’s the very height of heavens
The good hearted Mir Baqi
Islamic monotheism (tauhīd) remained. favourite verse ishwar allah terau naam.
Built this alighting place of angels
Kabir gave a fascinating new meaning to Its durability is evident in the everyday May this goodness last forever
tauhīd, which was specifically Indian. use of the phrase in India from the high- The year of construction becomes manifest
Before we review this new meaning, est to the lowest level, “god is One in saying
we might note that the great Indian his- though we might call him by different May this goodness last forever.
torian and thinker of the 16th century, names.” It creates space for the assertion Baqi, a soldier of Babur, unambiguously
Abu’l Fazl, calls Kabir a muwāhidd, adher- of one’s own god but also the acceptance asserts that he constructed “the alighting
ent of tauhīd. He observes that “the hid- of others’ title to worshipping their gods; place of angels” on the command of Babur.
den meaning had become clear to him it is not predicated upon the validity of Babur himself records his visit to Ayodhya
(Kabir) and he had given up the obsolete one’s god and invalidity of others. It twice on the same page in his memoirs in
customs (farsūdeh rasmhāi) of the world; is this vision, this world view, which 1527–28, the year of the construction of the
much of his poetry in the local (Hindi) I believe explains why peace prevailed masjid, and “stayed there a few days” to
language is memorable for searching the in society for over five out of five and a take some administrative measures and,
Truth” (Fazl 1872). His younger contem- half medieval Indian centuries. And in never one to forget, go for a hunt (Bābur-
porary, Abdul Haqq Muhaddis tells the the end it was this vision of a universal Nāma 1922).1 But he makes no mention of
story of his father asking his own father god that came to the rescue of a belea- a temple, much less a Ram temple which
whether Kabir was a Muslim or non- guered nation in the aftermath of that he ordered destroyed to make place for
Muslim and being told he was neither; fateful day. It is this vision that irks the the masjid erected in his own name. He
he was instead a muwāhidd. When the Sangh Parivar endlessly as it does the does not even take cognisance of Baqi’s
son wished to know what that meant, Islamic State. attribution of its construction to his
26 DECEMBER 2, 2017 vol lIi no 48 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
 25 YEARS AFTER BABRI MASJID

command here or elsewhere in his it does not refer to any temple, much less herself records his visit to “other idol
memoirs. There is no evidence that Babur a Ram temple giving way to the masjid. houses” in Gwalior in 1529 and “enjoying
even knew anything of it. The rest of the 19th century is teeming the sight of these buildings” after he had
We come across the next reference to with a lot of action, including not a little ordered the demolition of one which had
Ayodhya in Abu’l Fazl’s ‘Ain-i Akbarī, violence and some attempts by the Awadh erotic sculptures that offended him.5
towards the end of the 16th century. Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, to resolve the It should be obvious to any student of
“Awadh” (equivalent of Ayodhya), he says, tensions which in some versions were history that a piece of evidence almost
is among the greatest cities of Hind. It is an predicated upon the destruction of the precisely 300 years after an event can at
esteemed ancient sacred place. Around the Ram temple.3 However, even by the late best be supportive, not primary evidence.
enviros of the city, they sift the earth and 1860s, the version had not found universal Hafizullah’s document of 1822 does,
obtain gold. It was under the protection of
acceptance. P Carnegy in his Historical however, suggest that a popular tradi-
Raja Ramchandra who in the Tretā age com-
bined in his own person spiritual supremacy Sketch of the Fyzabad District (1870) con- tion linking the masjid and the Ram
(farmānrawāī-i ma’nawī) and king’s respon- jectured about the existence of a temple at Janmasthān had begun to evolve in the
sibilities. (takht nashīnī) the site going by the black stone pillars region a while earlier and that this tradi-
It is evident that neither in Mir Baqi’s embedded in the walls but could not tion had begun to gain strength with
verses on the walls of the mosque, nor in decide whether the temple was dedicated time even as its constitutive elements
Babur’s memoirs nor in the ‘Ain-i Akbarī to Ram or to the Buddha. However, at kept changing. Historians have unfortu-
is there any reference to a temple at the another place he did record that the nately paid little attention to the study of
site where Babri Masjid was constructed. temple was indeed one for Ram and had tradition as an indicator of evolving pop-
Indeed, except in the verses, there is no been built upon for the mosque, though ular cultures and mentalities; however,
mention of the masjid at all in the other he based the assertion on “locally affirmed” tradition is a fact of a different genre
medieval sources we have encountered. information, that is, popular tradition and cannot suffice as evidence for the
If Babur fails to mention the masjid, so do (Carnegy 1870). Another three decades occurrence of a particular event.6
all of his descendants down to the last and a half, by 1905, the story had made
Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar. Even the its way to the official District Gazetteer of Hope Still Lives
bigoted Aurangzeb, himself responsible Faizabad, although it still talked vaguely As we commemorate the fateful event of
for the demolition of several temples and of “an ancient temple” being destroyed a quarter century ago, it is evident that
erection of mosques on their foundations, (Nevill 1905). The final push to the much more than the demolition of a 16th
Kashi and Mathura among them, shows growing assertion was given by Beve- century building is at stake. There is a
no knowledge of the masjid or the temple. ridge in an appendix to her magnificent well-thought-out, fully evolved and hardly
If no one else among the Mughal rulers, translation of the Bābur-Nāma from the concealed plan to deprive India of the her-
Aurangzeb would surely have been pleased original Turkish (first published in 1922). itage that has let it survive often tumul-
to record the act by his great predecessor, In Appendix U, in a note she observes, tuous interventions and retain its pluralist
if he had heard of it. But rulers apart, Presumably the order for building the mosque fabric. The plan is being loudly pro-
the numerous historians of every hue, was given during Babur’s stay in Aud (Ayo- claimed and implemented by a combina-
bigoted Mulla Abdul Qadir Badauni, dhya) in 934 AH [1527–28 AD] at which time tion of state power and laboriously man-
he would be impressed by the dignity and
friend-turned-foe of the “rationalist” Abu’l ufactured social base by recreating an
sanctity of the ancient Hindu shrine it (at
Fazl, several historians in-between, Hindu least in part) displaced, and like the obedi-
irreconcilable dichotomy of denomina-
and Parsi historians, poets of Hindi and ent follower of Muhammad he was in into- tional religions and unrelenting hostility
Persian—all one can hear from them lerance of another Faith, would regard the between their followers, a dichotomy
on the issue is silence. So too from the substitution of a temple by a mosque as duti- that had a most authentic and aesthetic
ful and worthy.4
numerous European travellers in the Indian resolution. But, then people are
17th and 18th centuries. Here was a remarkable sleight of hand. bigger than state power as well as any
The first concrete evidence of a link For Beveridge, the demolition of the partial social base. Hope still lives,
between the masjid and Ram Janmasthān temple and the construction of the mosque though it cannot live in silence.
comes from a legal document submitted to was not a fact but an inference drawn
the Faizabad law court in 1822 by its super- from the one fact of Babur being a Muslim. Notes
intendent, daroghā-i adālat, one Hafizullah, Sad, because Babur, of all the great Mughal 1 Bābur-Nāma, p 602.
2 A copy of the document has been reproduced
in the Persian language. It reads: rulers was the most happy-go-lucky per- by Kamal al-Din Haidar in his Qaisaral-
The Jama masjid, constructed by Emperor son, fond of the good things of life—gar- Tawarikh, Vol II, 1898, Lucknow, p 117.
Babur, is located at the Janma Asthān, that 3 Sushil Srivastava has given a fair account of
dens, music, poetry (himself a landmark these in The Disputed Mosque, New Delhi, 1991,
is at the site of the birth of Ram, son of Raja pp 43–47.
Dasrat (and is) adjacent to the building of
poet of Turkish), flowers: women and
4 Bābur-Nāma, Appendix U. See also p 656,
Rasoi (kitchen) of Sita, wife of the above above all his cup of wine—the very anti- No 3, where Beveridge, inserts “(marking the
mentioned Ram …2 thesis of an icy bigot going around demol- birth-place of Rama)” after citing Nevill’s
statement that Babur had destroyed the
Even as it unambiguously linked the ishing other people’s places of worship. ancient temple.
masjid to the precise place of Ram’s birth, Beveridge should have known this; she 5 Bābur-Nāma, pp 611–13.

Economic & Political Weekly EPW DECEMBER 2, 2017 vol lIi no 48 27

25 YEARS AFTER BABRI MASJID
6 For some more details of essentially the same Carnegy, P (1870): Historical Sketch of the Fyzabad and Separately: Cultural India in History and
overall argument, see Harbans Mukhia, “The Tehsil, Including the Former Capitals of Ayodhya Politics, New Delhi.
Ram Janmbhoomi–Babari Masjid Dispute: Ev- and Fyzabad, Lucknow, pp 21–17. Nevill, H R (1905): (ed), District Gazetteer of the
idence of Medieval Sources” in his Exploring Dīwān-i Ghālib (1999): “Anjuman-i Taraqqī-i Urdu United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Fyzabad,
India’s Medieval Centuries: Essays in History, (Hind),” New Delhi, p 85. Allahabad, p 173.
Society, Culture and Techonolgy, New Delhi, Encyclopedia of Islam (1998): Vol VII, E J Brill, Siddiqi, Bakhtiyar Husain (2012): “Ibn Tufail,” A
2010. Leiden, s v. History of Islamic Philosophy, M M Sharif (ed),
Fazl, Abu’l (1872): Āin-i Akbarī, H Blochmann, ed, Vol I, Delhi, pp 526–27. Ibn Tufail was the first
Calcutta, Vol I, p 433. great philosopher of this school. “The Muwa-
References hidds professed to be Ghazalians, They were
Khan, Ali Muhammad (1927–30): Mirāt-i Ahmadī,
Abdul Haqq Muhaddis (nd): Akhbār al-Akhiyār, 2 Vols, Syed Nawab Ali (ed), Baroda, 1927–30, noted for their puritanical belief in the unity of
Deoband, p 306. Vol I, pp 405–12, For a discussion of the event, God. Anthropomorphic notions were an anath-
Bābur-Nāma (1922): “English Translation by see Najaf Haider (2005): “A Holi Riot of 1714’: ema to them.”
A S Beveridge,” Delhi reprint 1970, first pub- Versions from Ahmedabad and Delhi,” Mushir- Umar, Muhammd (1993): Islam in Northern India
lished 1922, Appendix U. ul Hasan and Asim Roy (eds), Living Together During the Eighteenth Century, New Delhi, p 192.

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