Is there proof that Aurangzeb razed Kashi Vishwanath temple?
TrendingLive ScoreDelhi Election DateBreaking NewsDelhi Election 2025Los Angeles WildfireUGC NET December Admit CardDelhi Election Congress Candidates ListHMPVLive ScoreDelhi Election DateBreaking NewsDelhi Election 2025Los Angeles WildfireUGC NET December Admit CardDelhi Election Congress Candidates ListHMPVLive ScoreDelhi Election DateBreaking NewsDelhi Election 2025Los Angeles WildfireUGC NET December Admit CardDelhi Election Congress Candidates ListHMPVThis story is from May 29, 2022Is there proof that Aurangzeb razed Kashi Vishwanath temple?Vaibhav Purandare / TNN / Updated: May 29, 2022, 13:36 ISTShareAA+Text Size
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Follow us The controversy surrounding the Gyanvapi mosque has put the focus squarely on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who is said to have demolished the temple of Lord Shiva in Kashi or Benaras to build a masjid there. But archaeological evidence in the form of a surviving wall and the nandi bull apart, is there any evidence to suggest that Aurangzeb did indeed raze the temple or ordered the temple to be razed? Kashi Vishwanath Dham decorated with 'diyas' ahead of its inauguration in Varanasi on December 12, 2021 (PTI photo)Kashi Vishwanath Dham in VaranasiCrowd of devotees at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)The temple complex of Kashi Vishwanath, in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)Kashi Vishwanath Dham decorated with 'diyas' ahead of its inauguration in Varanasi on December 12, 2021 (PTI photo)Kashi Vishwanath Dham in VaranasiCrowd of devotees at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)The temple complex of Kashi Vishwanath, in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)Kashi Vishwanath Dham decorated with 'diyas' ahead of its inauguration in Varanasi on December 12, 2021 (PTI photo)
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The controversy surrounding the Gyanvapi mosque has put the focus squarely on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who is said to have demolished the temple of Lord Shiva in Kashi or Benaras to build a masjid there. But archaeological evidence in the form of a surviving wall and the nandi bull apart, is there any contemporary evidence to suggest that Aurangzeb did indeed raze the temple or ordered the temple to be razed?Contemporary evidence, and especially that of the literary kind, becomes critical because in the Ayodhya case, a great deal was made of the fact that there was no contemporary written record of the Ram temple's demolition as several pages of Babur's diary from April 2, 1528, onwards - the day he entered Ayodhya - had gone missing. His diary then resumes only in September 1528, by which time Babur had already left Ayodhya. One of the key arguments put forward at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation was: the Hindu nationalist side might be citing apparent archaeological evidence and epigraphic evidence and even the 17th-century accounts of travellers, most notably the record left behind by an Austrian priest, Joseph Tieffenthaler, who visited Ayodhya circa 1770, but there is simply no literary record about the temple demolition from Babur's times.In the case of Kashi, written evidence exists in the form of Aurangzeb's own official records. A Mughal official named Saqi Mustad Khan was commissioned by Aurangzeb's most favoured disciple and secretary Inayatullah Khan Kashmiri to write down a record of the emperor's reign. All court records, correspondence and archival material was placed at Saqi Mustad Khan's disposal so that a coherent and chronological narrative could emerge of Aurangzeb's orders, decisions, policies and actions. This account in Persian is known as the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, and it covers nearly five decades from 1668-69 to Aurangzeb's death in 1707. Aurangzeb took the throne in 1658-59 after imprisoning his father Shah Jahan and killing his brother Dara Shukoh, and the record of the first decade of his rule (called the Alamgir-nama) was compiled by another chronicler, Mirza Muhammad Kazim. But it's Saqi Mustad Khan's account of the next five decades that talks of Kashi.According to a translation by historian Jadunath Sarkar, this official Mughal chronicler wrote that early in 1669, Aurangzeb observed that Brahmin priests in Benaras were preaching "false books" and teaching students all the "wrong" things, by which he meant Hindu religious texts. He stated that Aurangzeb wanted these teachings to be stopped, the temples in the town - along with those in Multan and other places - to be razed and public worship at such places prohibited. Aurangzeb's general order, mentioned in full in the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, went like this, "The Lord Cherisher of the Faith learnt that in the provinces of Tatta, Multan, and especially at Benaras, the Brahman misbelievers used to teach their false books in their established schools, and that admirers and students, both Hindu and Muslim, used to come from great distances to these misguided men in order to acquire this vile learning. His Majesty, eager to establish Islam, issued orders to the governors of all the provinces to demolish the schools and temples of the infidels."Just months after that, the official entry for September 2, 1669, noted by Saqi Mustad Khan was that "news has reached the court that in accordance with the Emperor's command, his officers have demolished the temple of Vishwanath at Banaras." This indeed was the most famous temple of Benaras, one of 12 'jyotirlingas' where Lord Shiva is said to have cast his celestial beam of light.These accounts from 1669 are followed by an account of the razing of the Mathura temple early in 1670 and thereafter by the destruction of temples on Aurangzeb's orders elsewhere - in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and indeed across the length and breadth of the Mughal Empire.Significantly, Saqi Mustad Khan is not a hostile chronicler of events but someone appointed by Aurangzeb's officials, with all of the Emperor's farmans and even reports sent in by provincial governors and officials thrown open to him.End of ArticleFOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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Kashi Vishwanath Dham decorated with 'diyas' ahead of its inauguration in Varanasi on December 12, 2021 (PTI photo)
Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi
Crowd of devotees at Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)
The temple complex of Kashi Vishwanath, in Varanasi. (PTI file photo)
