Earlier today, the court-monitored survey of the disputed Gyanvapi structure reportedly found a Shivling inside the Wuzukhana of the mosque. The Wuzukhana is a place inside a mosque where Muslims wash their hands and feet before offering namaz.
The discovery of a Shivling inside the mosque, that too at a place associated with ‘cleansing dirt’, sparked outrage among Hindus and brought to the fore the historical aversion that Muslim rulers who attacked India harboured for Kafirs in general and Hindus or idol-worshippers in particular.
The desecration of Somnath idol by Mahmud of Ghazni: The utter contempt harboured by Islamic marauders against Vedic faiths
One of the hallmarks of centuries of Islamic rule in India was the deep antagonism they held against Hindus, which was manifested from time to time in their perverse desire to humiliate Hindus and force them into embracing Islam. To this end, the Islamic marauders not only looted the legendary wealth of temples to fill their coffers but also subjected Hindus to mortification by destroying the temples and desecrating the idols that resided in them.
Perhaps, no one embodied this hatred against Hindus and their deities more zealously than Mahmud of Ghazni, who led 17 attacks against the hallowed Hindu temple of Somnath and made no bones about his aversion for Hindu beliefs and idols of Hindu Gods. While his primary aim to invade India was to loot its vaunted wealth, Mahmud of Ghazni was equally fanatic in attacking India to spread Islam. In his sixteenth expedition to India in 1025, he plundered the celebrated idol of Somnath. The word “Somnath” means master of the moon. The Somnath temple located in Gujarat, India, is one of the twelve jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.
The subjugation of kafirs and subjection of their faith to ignominy were the key objectives undergirding the Islamic conquests in medieval India. The Mahmud of Ghazni not only launched repeated attacks on Somnath Temple to plunder its legendary wealth but also sought to humiliate Hindus by destroying the idol of one of their most revered deities.
According to historical accounts, during his 16th raid on the Somnath Temple, he smashed and broke the idol of Lord Somnath into four pieces. After successfully subduing defenders of the Somnath Temple, Mahmud of Ghazni entered the temple, where he saw the majestic idol of Lord Somnath. On seeing the idol, anger coursed through him and he lifted his mace and attacked with such ferocity that the reportedly five yard-long idol of Lord Somnath was broken into pieces.
Two of the four fragments were taken to Ghazni (in Afghanistan); one was deposited at the threshold of the Jama Masjid of Ghazni and the other at the court door of his own palace. The remaining two fragments were sent to Mecca and Medina to be buried inside the mosques there.
In Tariki-e-Alfi, an account of historical work compiled by a committee appointed by Akbar, it is mentioned that after defenders of Somnath temple were subjugated, Brahmins offered Mahmud of Ghazni an unprecedented amount of wealth in exchange for leaving the ling of Somnath unharmed. However, Mahmud replied to them that he would love to be called Butshikan (destroyer of idols) instead of ButParast (lover of idols) in the court of Allah after he dies. He turned down the offer of Brahmins and destroyed the idol of Somnath.
Al-Beruni, an Islamic scholar during the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, reiterated in his body of work that the fragments of the Somnath idol were buried inside the Jama Masjid in Ghaznin and under the entrance of the Sultan’s palace so that people would walk on it while visiting the mosque and the palace and continue to insult the idol worshippers.
Shivling found inside the Gyanvapi mosque
On completion of the videography survey of Gyanvapi mosque on Monday (May 16), petitioner Sohan Lal Arya informed the media that a Shivling was found inside the complex of the disputed structure.
“Baba mil gaye…Jiski Nandi pratisha kar rahi this (The Shivling has been found. The sacred bull Nandi was waiting for it),” he exclaimed. “We already knew what was inside… but found more than what we had imagined,” the petitioner emphasised.
“It is a very big day for us. Chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev’ reverberated in the complex of the Gyanvapi mosque. The next step is to demand a survey of the Western Wall of the mosque. There are inscriptions of Hindu Gods and Goddesses there.”
