Key Points
Amid allegations from certain sections over the history of the Ram Janmabhoomi site where the Babri Masjid once existed, BR Mani, the top archaeologist who led the court-ordered excavations there in 2003, has requested the Central government to make the report public..
Now, we can speak," he says.. BR Mani was with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and was tasked with surveying and then excavating the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site for archaeological evidence by the Allahabad High Court..
The one immediately below the 16th-century Babri Masjid dated back to the 12th century, says Mani. "Evidence of sculptures, terracottas, lamps and architectural members, normally used in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious structures, were found," he tells IndiaToday.In...
Both the Allahabad High Court in 2003 and the Supreme Court in 2019 relied on the ASI's findings from the excavations while delivering their judgements in the Ayodhya case.. The controversy over the history of the Ram Janmabhoomi site was reignited recently after comments by a section of historians and politicians amid the 'pran pratishtha' (consecration) ceremony of the new Ram Lalla idol at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya...
"At least that particular part is required to be brought to the knowledge of everyone," he says.. Among the most clinching evidence of there being a temple associated with Lord Ram, Mani says, was a 12th Century Vishnu-Hari inscription that says the temple of Vishnu Hari was constructed in the reign of Gahadwal ruler Govind Chandra of Kannauj...
