RAM MANDIR

e birthplace), the Babri Mosque was a place of worship for Muslims.[1] From 1853 to 1949, separate areas were earmarked for both Hindus and Muslims to worship and in 1949, Idols were placed inside the disputed structure.[2] The site of the Babri Mosque which was surrounded on all sides by Mata Sita Rasoi (Lord Rama's wife Sita Devi's Kitchen - actually a Temple and other Temples of Hanuman) and the disputed structure sharing walls with Sita and Hanuman Mandir was destroyed when a political rally developed into a riot involving 150,000 people. This happened due to the movement that was launched in 1984 by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP party) to reclaim the site for Hindus who want to erect a temple dedicated to the infant Rama (Ramlalla), at this spot. Many Muslim organizations have continued to express outrage at the destruction of the disputed structure. Since then, the matter is sub-judice and this political, historical and socio-religious debate over the history and location of the Babri Mosque, is known as the Ayodhya Debate. References such as the 1986 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica reported that "Rama’s birthplace is marked by a mosque, erected by the Moghul emperor Babur in 1528 on the site of an earlier temple".[3] According to the Hindu view, the ancient temple could have been destroyed on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur. Claims have been made that worship took place on a platform called the "Ram Chabutara" prior to Independence. According to British sources, Hindus and Muslims (who came from Faizabad) used to worship together in the Disputed Structure in the 19th century until about 1855. Carnegy wrote in 1870:
"It is said that up to that time, the Hindus and Mohamedans alike used to worship in the mosque-temple. Since the British rule a railing has been put up to prevent dispute, within which, in the mosque the Mohamedans pray, while outside the fence the Hindus have raised a platform on which they make their offerings."[4] This platform was outside the disputed structure but within its precincts. Hindu protagonists say that they have been demanding the return of the site for centuries, and cite accounts from several western travellers to India during the Mughal rule in India.