The country is currently shocked by the alleged huge heist of wealth, or ‘chanda chori’ (theft of donations), in Ayodhya’s Ram Temple. The “theft” of funds from the temple came as a big blow to the nation, particularly to those devotees who had donated small amounts to huge funds for their deity, Lord Ram.
This Ayodhya Ram Temple construction came as a part of the follow-up of the Babri Mosque’s demolition in 1992, which was destroyed as part of the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation[1].
This agitation had shaken the country with Rath Yatras led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Lal Krishna Advani, as part of the BJP-RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) campaign to restore the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. As per their make-believe propaganda, Babar, the first Mughal emperor, had destroyed the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the “birth place” of Lord Ram, to build a mosque in his name.
Keeping the long drawn-out debate aside, the BJP-RSS succeeded in their plan, with alleged collaboration by sections of the judiciary. Right from that time, a huge fund collection drive was going on, in parallel. After the mosque’s demolition, the Liberhan Commission opined that Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharati (all top BJP leaders) among others were “culprits” with regard to the demolition of the mosque. Even the Supreme Court judgement conceded that demolition of the Babri Mosque was a crime.
While finding that those who demolished the Mosque (Babri) ‘had committed a crime’, the guilty were rewarded with the land on which the mosque stood to build this Ram Temple. More funds started pouring in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi played a double role — of Chief of State and the Chief Priest — to inaugurate the temple, reported India Today. Overall; it was he who was said to be the Decider-in-Chief of all the matters related to the Ram temple.
The quality of the structure became obvious the next rainy season after the construction of the ground floor. The ceiling started leaking giving a boost to the bucket industry as those had to be used to keep the floor dry. Devotees started thronging and the PM) (Prime Minister’s Office) was said to be in control of all the arrangements for donation collection. The extent of collections can be gauged from the fact that the Vishwa Sindhi Samaj stated that it had donated nearly 200 silver bricks, weighing a kilo each, for which they did not receive any receipt. Many rich donations in different forms were made. The total amount allegedly siphoned off by the trustees is estimated to be between Rs 2,000-3,000 crore. As per a report in the News Minute.
To cut a long story short, the cat is out of the bag that the temple was the scene of plunder of wealth. The implication of this will be known in the coming times. The whole Ram Temple campaign was primarily done for political purposes. It did lead to the emergence of BJP as a ruling party; and also helped spread hate against Muslims to make its political base very solid.
We are in a democracy where fraternity has been done away with; the hatred with the orchestrated campaign of ‘Hate’ against Muslims’ in a spiral. One is reminded of kingdoms when kings used to plunder temples for their wealth. How do we contrast those temple destructions during the age of kingdoms and what is currently afoot under a semi-democratising society turning into elected autocracy? The lust for money remains the common factor while religious polarisation was not part of the kings who plundered. Now, polarisation is the main agenda of ruling communal forces.
Two major examples come to mind.
One is Raja Harshdev of 11th century Kashmir and the plunder of Somnath by Mahmud Ghazni. Temples and holy places were destroyed by other kings, too. Historian Romila Thapar in Past and Prejudice session to Khoj teachers in Mumbai (then Bombay) explained, ‘Why rulers patronised and pillaged others’ religious places. Polymath D. D. Kosambi points out, “King Harsha of Kashmir (AD 1089-1101), not to be confused with seventh-century emperor Harsha, systematically melted down all metal images through the length and breadth of his kingdom, with just four exceptions. The work was carried out by a special ‘minister of uprooting gods’ (devottapatna Nayak).
Writer Asghar Ali Engineer pointed out, “About Mahmud Ghazni too, historians are quite selective in recording the facts. We highlight the fact that he plundered and destroyed Somnath Temple. But we do not throw light on the fact that he employed Hindus in high positions in his army and administration. Among the names of Hindu generals, names of Tilak, Sondhi, Rai Hind and Harjan are mentioned in Tarokhi-bayahaqi…Coins were issued in his reign with Sanskrit inscriptions.”
Temple destructions are attributed to having religious motives, as per the current social understanding. This was due to the implementation of the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British, who implemented communal historiography. When Mahmud Ghazni destroyed Somnath Temple, before the act of destruction, he seized all the gold and silver idols of the temple, the total worth of these acquisitions should be more than twenty thousand gold dinars, a huge amount and big wealth. “… The King looked at idols in wonder and gave orders for seizing the spoils and appropriation of treasures. There were many idols of gold and silver and vessels set with jewels…the value of these things found in the temple exceeded twenty thousand dinars?”
Historian Romila Thapar writes, “temples were depositories of vast quantities of wealth, in cash, golden images and jewellery-the donations of the pious, these made them natural targets for non-Hindus searching for wealth in north India. The lust of Mahmud for gold was insatiable…the concentration of wealth in Somnath was renowned.” She further also points out “Religion did not count unless it could serve a definite political purpose, where it was exploited to the hilt.”
In popular perception, the novel ‘Jai Somnath‘ by Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi played a major role in demonising Mahmud Ghazni and Muslims. It presented his forays to loot the temple as the one motivated by religious purpose alone, as an insult to Hindu religion. And further temple destruction by Muslim kings became the main propaganda of communal forces.
While many Muslims kings are singled out for destroying the temples, hardly attention is paid to the donations which many Muslim kings gave for Hindu temples. They received “copies of firmans (Court orders) of King Aurangzeb from great temples of Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain), Balaji Temple (Chitrakut) Umanand Temple (Gauhati), Jain temples of Shatrunjaya, and other temples and Gurudwaras scattered over North India. These farmans were issued from 1065 AH (1659) to 1095 AH (1685).”
The similarities between the temples destroyed by the likes of Ghazni and present Ram Temple Trust under the control of present dispensation is uncanny.
[1] Babri Masjid Demolition: A Point of Departure, and of Arrival; Teesta Setalvad
Social Scientist; Vol. 51, No. 1/2 (596-597) (January-February 2023), pp. 21-38 (18 pages) Published By: Social Scientist
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