BHOJSHALA TEMPLE-MOSQUE DISPUTE MAY END AMICABLY AFTER ASI REPORT

According to sources, the ASI has said that heavy slabs made of basalt that were used to construct the platform of the structure dated back to the Paramara period between 10th and 11th centuries (900-1000 CE).

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

The Indore High Court-mandated Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey at the Bhojshala temple-cum-Kamal Maula mosque in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh has conclusively found that the said structure is on the remains of a temple that was built during the reign of the Paramara dynasty. It was built by the Paramara clan of the Rajput community which was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Malwa in westcentral India between the 9th and 14th centuries CE.

The said ASI probe was ordered by the High Court while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed in May 2022 by Hindu individuals and groups.

The findings of the report, which was shared with the Indore High Court earlier last week, has the potential to end the long-standing communal tension between Hindus and Muslims over the question of whether a temple had been standing at the said place, which was then brought down and replaced by a mosque.

The report was prepared by an eight-member ASI team that included Alok Tripathi, Zulfikar Ali, Aaftab Hussain, Izhar Ali Hasmi, Bhuwan Vikram, Gautam Bhattacharya, Manoj Kurmi, Shambhu Yadav and Neeraj. The team used ground penetrating radar (GPR), a non-destructive geophysical survey technique that uses radio waves to image the subsurface to arrive at its findings.

Among its findings, sources said, the ASI has said that heavy slabs made from basalt that were used to construct the platform of the structure were dated to the Paramara period between 10th and 11th centuries (900-1000 CE). The scientific survey conducted by the ASI has found that the existing structure was constructed over a preexisting structure of basalt, the lower part of which still exists as base.