A “massive” temple of Lord Ram, dating back to the second century BC (Before Christ), existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya before the construction of Babri Masjid, a counsel for deity “Ram Lalla Virajman” told the Supreme Court on Friday.
The counsel for Ram Lalla, a party to the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute, referred to the report of a court commissioner, appointed to inspect the site in 1950, and also relied upon the findings of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to buttress its claim over the disputed 2.77-acre land in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.
Advancing submissions before a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on the seventh day of the hearing, senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for the deity, said according to the ASI report, there “existed a massive, pillar-based structure dating back to the second century BC and the ASI survey was conclusive about there being a ‘mandap’ at the site with pillars”.
The senior lawyer extensively referred to various pictures and reports, including the ASI’s findings on the excavated materials from the disputed site, and said, however, there was no such material to show that it was a temple of only Lord Ram.
But the pictures of the deities, including those of Lord Shiva, sculptures on the pillars of “Garuda” flanked by lions and the images of lotus amply indicated that it was a temple and moreover, these things were not found in mosques, Vaidyanathan submitted before the bench also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer.
“Keeping in mind the faith of Hindus and preponderance of probability, it would indicate that this was a temple of Lord Ram,” he said.
“Along with the massive old structure, other materials found during excavation suggested that it was a temple,” the senior lawyer added.
Referring to the Allahabad High Court order, he said one of the judges, Justice SU Khan, did not deal with the ASI report in his judgment and erroneously concluded that the mosque came up on a vacant land and on the ruins of a temple, while the other two judges took note of the report, which said there was a temple where the mosque came up.
