On Saturday, 13th May 2023, at around 9:15 pm, a mob of Muslims barged into the Trimbakeshwar temple at Nashik in Maharashtra. Trimbakeshwar is one of the twelve holy jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. Only Hindus are supposed to enter the temple and pray to the deity with Hindu customs. However, the Muslims who tried to enter the courtyard of the temple attempted this as they allegedly intended to forcefully put a chadar on the Shivling inside the sanctum sanctorum.
However, those who entered the temple and other local Muslims later claimed that they did so according to their annual custom of offering the fumes of frankincense to Trimbakeshwar from the first stair of the temple during the post-Sandal processions of a local dargah of one Hazrat Sayyad Ghulam Shah Wali Baba. The servant of this dargah apologised for this act and said that he will discontinue this custom that is allegedly going on for the last one hundred years.
Trimbakeshwar Temple management committee lodged a complaint with the police after security guards stopped the four men from reaching the sanctorum. Videos of the incident went viral on various social media platforms.
The four persons detained by the police for forcibly entering the Trimbakeshwar temple are Aqeel Yusuf Sayyed, Salman Aqeel Sayyed, Matin Raju Sayyed, and Salim Bakshu Sayyed. It is alleged that they tried to enter the temple premises by joining the Sandal procession and intended to offer chadar on the Shivling.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, May 16, ordered an FIR in this case. He also ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to thoroughly investigate the events and their aftermath. Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio in the state, stated that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) would not only investigate the recent incident but also look into a similar occurrence last year.
On Wednesday, May 17, members of various Hindu organisations, including Hindu Mahasabha, Brahmin Mahasangh, Nashik Purohit Sangh, and Trimbakeshwar Purohit Sangh reached Trimbakeshwar temple. They performed purification (Shuddhi) rituals on the temple premises amidst the chants of Har Har Mahadev. The Maha Aarti was performed after the temple purification rituals were completed.
Soon after, an ancient Hanuman temple in Aligarh took the decision to ban the entry of Muslims into the temple premises and issued guidelines for Hindus to dress in a decent manner while coming to the temple to offer prayers.
The Tuljabhavani temple of Tuljapur in Maharashtra also displayed instruction boards at various places in the temple premises appealing to the devotees to dress in a manner that will uphold the pride of the Indic culture. Tahsildar is by default chief manager of the temple management committee in Maharashtra – the progressive land of the so-called renaissance. Accordingly, Tuljapur’s Tahsildar Saudagar Tandale issued a show-cause notice to Nagesh Shitole who works as the assistant manager of the religious and public relations affairs. Shitole was asked why did he allow displaying such a board without informing his seniors.
There have been some attempts at secularised reporting of the incident in Nashik in media and politics. Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction said that it was rightful of Muslims to offer the fumes of frankincense to Trimbakeshwar. Sakal published a report presenting the new board placed by the Trimbakeshwar temple authorities. In fact, the temple already had a board in black and white colour and three languages, Marathi, English, and Gujarati. But the new board painted in saffron color was needlessly looked at as a symbol of hatred whereas it actually was just an assertion of the exclusively Hindu identity of the Jyotirlinga.
Many liberals in the Marathi diaspora called the decision to perform Shuddhi of the temple regressive while they possessed apparently zero care for and knowledge of the Dharma as it evolved over centuries. Many Marathi liberals batted for allowing entry to Muslims in the temple comfortably ignoring the fact that no Hindu rituals are allowed in any Muslim place of worship. Most of them also forget that Aurangzeb had razed off Trimbakeshwar and Marathas had fought a long battle, shedding blood for generations to reclaim that site from the clutches of the tyrants subscribing to the faith. This faith is enjoying all the constitutional concessions, designating itself with quasi-constitutional attributions, and asserting extra-constitutional aggressions even in so-called independent India.
Enlightening Hindus on the key takeaways of this episode and enlisting ways to tackle this problem thus becomes a matter that needs the urgent attention of the vigilant Hindu society. The key takeaways for Hindus from the whole Trimbakeshwar controversy are as follows:
1. There has been a pre-existing restriction on the entry of non-Hindus into the Trimbakeshwar temple, which is not a new development.
2. In 1690, Aurangzeb destroyed the Trimbakeshwar temple and constructed a mosque at the site. In 1754, Nana Saheb Peshwa demolished the mosque and rebuilt the temple.
3. Currently, local Muslims claim that during a procession at the Ghulam Wali Shah Dargah, they stop briefly on the stairs to offer the fumes of frankincense to the Hindu deity. It is difficult to ascertain whether this is a genuine practice due to the conflicting history of the temple’s destruction.
4. This can just be an experiment of testing the Hindu community’s tolerance. It lasted longer than a century and may later turn into something innocent Hindus can’t even imagine. Therefore, arguments like “I just stopped on the stairs, I didn’t enter inside, I just wanted to offer the fumes of frankincense, etc.” don’t deserve to be considered reliable.
5. Salim Sayed, who was present during the procession, has also stated that when he stands on the stairs for a moment to offer the fumes of frankincense, he chants “Har Har Mahadev, Om Namah Shivaya”. While this may please a Hindu, does Salim Sayed’s own faith permit him to do so?
6. If someone who is not a Hindu wants to show respect to the Trimbakeshwar deity in a traditional manner, they should always be welcome to convert to Hinduism. There should be no discrimination based on caste for Hindus to enter the temple. There should not be gender discrimination for Hindus to enter the temple unless specified by the demands of the deity sitting inside the sanctum like in the case of Sabarimala. It is the responsibility of Hindus to keep their places of worship clean and willfully maintain codes of conduct in the holy places in order to save them from becoming just another tourist spot.
7. Is it acceptable to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, chant mantras, perform puja, yajna, and homa, or sprinkle turmeric and vermilion in an Islamic pilgrimage site? If not, why is the burden of maintaining communal harmony placed solely on the Hindu community?
8. Certain local temples may have tolerant traditions that are one-sided and may raise suspicion. However, in a sacred place like Jyotirlinga, is it necessary to show respect and honour to the deity using fumes of frankincense, lamps, flowers, clothes, etc. from a place of another faith? Hindus should call out such liberals in as clear words and tell that their deity has a specific code of worshipping rituals and does not need any from those who don’t believe in the deity in the first place.
There is no reason to perceive the above argument as any form of extremism because it does not imply depriving non-Hindus of their right to practice their religion. This discussion is focussed on how Hindus are going to preserve the sanctity of their holy places, and if at all Hindus want to permit the syncretic culture of mutual love, respect, and harmony – are they really aware of the love they may get back if they play Holi inside a mosque or dargah.
