The Pran Pratishtha (consecration ceremony) of Ram Mandir took place at Lord Ram’s birthplace in Ayodhya on 22nd January this year. Hindus all over the world are ecstatic about the development—the souls of innumerable Ram Bhakts who sacrificed their lives for the cause of peace.
Many such sacrifices and occurrences, either forgotten by the people or purposefully swept under the carpet by communist historians were brought to the world’s attention by OpIndia’s team in their ground reports.
When OpIndia began looking into Ram Janmbhoomi and its related issues during our ground report in and around Ayodhya, we discovered a lot of information that most people were unaware of. The atrocities of the Mughals were extensively detailed in the ground report. These comprise the sacrifices made by King Devi Bakhsh Singh of Gonda and King Jaydatt Singh of Bhiti as well as the jihad waged by Maulana Amir Ali and the unprecedented riots that occurred in Ayodhya around 1850.
King Devi Bakhsh Singh waged a war in the British period
As we mentioned in the last story, Bhiti king Mahtab Singh died in defence of Ram Janmbhoomi and 80,000 of his soldiers. In that piece, we found out that Mir Baqi mixed the blood of Raja Mahtab Singh and his warriors with mud to lay the mosque’s foundation. Further research into King Mahtab Singh revealed that his successors too attained martyrdom in the service of Ram Janmbhoomi.
Around 1527–1528, King Mahtab Singh, the ruler of Bhiti ruler was martyred in the service of Ram Mandir. King Jayadat Singh, a descendant of King Mahtab Singh sacrificed his life to defend Ram Janmbhoomi nearly 300 years after Mahtab’s death. The battle transpired between the years 1847–1857. Devi Bakhsh Singh, the king of Gonda fought for the Ram Mandir during this period and constructed a Ram Chabootra (platform) there.
Jitendra Singh Bisen, a fifth-generation descendant of King Devi Bakhsh Singh’s general Gulab Singh Bisen was interviewed by OpIndia. Jitendra Singh Bisen claimed that all of the fighters who had previously served in the Mughal army had joined the British Army. The disputed structure was attacked by King Devi Bakhsh Singh, the Gonda monarch at the time, who sensed the weakness of the Mughals. Ramjanmbhoomi was completely under Mughal control at this point.
The verbal accounts of how Ram Janmabhoomi remained a flashpoint between Hindus and Muslims from the Mughal era also attest to the Hindu assertion that a mosque was built atop a temple at one of their holiest sites.
Nevertheless, the Ramabhakts continued to make sporadic attacks and were making attempts to reclaim Janmbhoomi. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah occupied the Awadh throne at the time. King Devi Bakhsh Singh’s invasion decisively destroyed Wajid Ali and his troops. King Devi Bakhsh Singh’s forces eventually managed to reach Ramjanmbhoomi. Vijay Swaroop established a Ram Chabootra alongside the contested building.
Maulvi Amir Ali had waged jihad
Jitendra Singh further stated that as soon as the news of the construction of Ram Chabootra and Wajid Ali Shah’s defeat came to light, the Muslim zamindars (feudal rulers) in the area were incensed. Maulvi Amir Ali of Amethi was one of them. He marched to Ayodhya with a contingent of Mughals. His goal was to destroy the Ram platform and drive out the Hindus from Ram Janmbhoomi. Hindus had also begun to worship at Ram Janmbhoomi around this point.
Maulvi Amir Ali was determined to put an end to these prayers at whatever costs. Some more Muslim landlords moved towards Ayodhya with him. On the other hand, King Devi Bakhsh Singh battled against the British as he advanced towards the Nepal border up to Terai. He fought the war while residing in Nepal’s border regions and did not fall into the hands of the British throughout his life.
The British started to seek and destroy his strongholds and allies. Kranti Upvan Park in Gonda is constructed in honour of King Devi Bakhsh Singh. A monument commemorating him and the other warriors who died beside him in the 1857 revolt is located in this park. This monument also bears the name of Jitendra Singh Bisen’s ancestor, Gulab Singh.
Later, Jitendra Singh Bisen became a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and fought to defend the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. The Hindu Mahasabha itself contested the case in support of Ram Lalla Virajman. Jitendra Singh Bisen referred to it as his good fortune to have witnessed the culmination of the movement started by his ancestors and to have made an equal amount of contributions to it.
King Jaydatt of Bhiti was sacrificed
A descendant of King Jaydatt named Pranav Pratap Singh told OpIndia that as soon as the Mughal princes and clerics’ armies began moving toward Ayodhya, the Hindu kingdoms in the region also began to band together. They assembled far from Ayodhya. It is estimated that this was around 1850. The British had achieved total hegemony over India by that point.
Maulvi Amir Ali tried to break this circle near Raunahi where the front was guarded by King Jaydatt Singh, a descendant of Bhiti King Mahtab Singh who was the first to give his life for Ram Mandir while battling Mir Baqi. King Jaydatt Singh valiantly faced off against Amir Ali and became a fallen hero on the battlefield. Amir Ali and his soldiers reportedly perished during the clash.
Folk songs honouring King Jaydatt’s bravery are still sung in the Awadh region today. Kavindra Laxman Das wrote, “Awadh viagra hetu jab, jawn jure chahoon aaye; Chordi yatra kar liyo, kinho samar subhaye; Kush penti sab chaadi liye, khadg bhawani Datt; Ali Amiro so bhidyo, samar soor Jaydatt.” (The Hindu rulers arrived at the battleground and withdrew from their pilgrimages and other activities when the mob assembled to attack Ayodhya. The emperors then lifted their swords, setting aside the offerings of worship that they had taken in hand. Among them was the warrior king Jaydatta who was martyred in a battle against Amir Ali.)
Armies were fighting outside while rioting was occurring inside
The Faizabad Gazetteer disclosed that there was a riot between Hindus and Muslims in and around the Ram Mandir when the armies of Kshatriya Kings confronted Muslim landlords and clerics. Historian Cunningham noted that the Awadh region had never had a riot of this magnitude which took the lives of thousands of people.
Radical Muslims would stop at nothing to destroy Ram’s platform. At the same time, the Hindu side was striving to safeguard Janmbhoomi, their holy site of worship, at all costs. During the violence, Muslims also targeted Hindu women, children and the elderly while Hindus did not lay a hand on their women, children or old persons. The saints of Ayodhya were also attacked in the riots. This period of violence lasted from 1853 to 1859.
The British then avoided this issue as they were preoccupied with putting an end to the 1857 revolution. They only intervened in Ayodhya after suppressing the countrywide freedom movement. Afterwards, the British authorities of the time gave the order to keep things as they were. There were British troops stationed at Janmbhoomi. At last, Ram Chabootra was preserved due to the sacrifices made by Hindus as well as their kings and the worship continued there.
We’ll tell you about the horrors carried out by the Mughal army in King Mahtab Singh’s kingdom as they were outraged by the first sacrifice made by the Bhiti ruler to defend the Ram Mandir in our upcoming article.
