Incidents of Hindu temple desecration and murti vandalization have increased recently. These smack of a deliberate ploy to hurt Hindu sentiments. The desecration of the 400-year-old Kodanda Rama temple near Ramateertham village of Nellimarla Mandal in Vizianagaram district in 2020 is etched in the memories of Hindus. The decapitation of the murti of Prabhu Sri Ram continues to haunt our collective memories to date.

Temple destruction, vandalism, and desecration across Bharat

In this article, we list down shocking instances of temple desecration in the past couple of years:

1) Earlier this month, four mandirs were desecrated and twelve murtis were vandalized in a single night in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Bulandshahr district. One of the mandirs is believed to be more than a century old.

2) The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments(HRCE) department has outdone itself by allegedly building toilets in the more than 1000-year-old Thiruvottiyur Thyagaraja Swamy temple. The Kovil belongs to the Pallava Era and is located in Chennai’s Thiruvottiyur. Similarly, the Avinashi Lingeswarar temple in Tamil Nadu was vandalised and a robbery attempt was made by a supposedly mentally unstable man. He vandalised some murtis, removed their vastra and tried to break the hundi. As he couldn’t succeed he stole a copper spear and Trishul and hid in the temple tower. Both incidents were reported in May 2023.

3) Two instances of Muslims consuming non-vegetarian food inside temple premises were reported. In April, Muslims were seen eating meat biryani on the premises of the Hanuman temple in Hampi. Similarly, in March, a video of Muslim women consuming meat in Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar temple surfaced on social media. Alert devotees confronted them and sent them away with the help of the police. Allowing non-Hindus inside temples in the name of encouraging tourism has resulted in the desecration of such sacred spaces.

4) In Madhya Pradesh’s (MP) Damoh, an unidentified criminal vandalized a Bajrang Bali murti. Following this incident, local Hindus are angry and upset. This apparent hate crime took place on 8 April 2023.

5) The ancient Parakulam Shiva Mandir was desecrated while the whole world was engaged in Shivaratri celebrations in February this year. The Mandir is located inside the forest in the Pathanamthitta district. Assailants wrecked the Shivlinga, damaged the Nandikesha deity using sharp tools, and threw away the bronze lamps.

6) The vandalization of the murti of Bhagwan Hanuman was reported from UP’s Varanasi. Miscreants broke into a Hanuman Mandir located in Narapatpur village of Varanasi District’s Chairaigaon Block in the early hours (at around 3 AM) of Monday (February 6) morning. They also desecrated a Shivling, Trishul, and Nandi murti, in addition to breaking and looting the donation box.

7) The three-centuries-old Shri Krishna Mandir located in Brahmapur Guru-Aribam Bamon Leikai in Manipur’s capital Imphal was vandalized by unknown miscreants in February. The devotees discovered the vandalism and desecration of murtis when they were preparing for the morning prayers on 3 February 2023 (Friday).

8) On 20 October 2022, Shiva temple located in Assam’s Dibrugarh close to Chabua Samshan was set afire. The area has seen high rates of conversion to Christianity. Locals have alleged that the incident is a result of post-conversion radicalization.

9) The silver crown of the deity, a gold-plated face of the idol and cash from the donation box were stolen from the 150-year-old Anandi Devi temple in Lucknow’s Chowk area in October last year. The incident led to protests from the locals who said the theft committed right under the nose of the police not only exposed claims of heavy patrolling but also desecrated the deity.

10) An ancient Hindu temple was demolished in Gujarat’s Tapi and a church was constructed on the site. Hindus have also been prohibited from offering prayers. The temple was located in a village in the Songarh taluka where local Christians built a church named Mariam Mata’s Temple. The discovery was made when some Hindus reached the place to offer prayers at the temple on October 2 last year.

11) On Tuesday (27 September 2022) night, Rameez Ahmed broke into a Bhagwan Hanuman temple and vandalized the murti of the chief deity in Jharkhand’s Ranchi. The incident occurred in Ranchi’s Hindpuri Police Station area and was discovered by the locals who saw the vandalized murti the following morning.

12) A Shiva temple in Coimbatore, reportedly more than 100 years old, was targeted for demolition on August 4. But due to intense protests by devotees, officials left after demolishing the compound wall. Devotees claim that the Swayambu Thampuran temple on the Avinashi road has been there for more than 100 years. The presiding deity, a lingam, is said to have revealed itself on its own and acquired the name Swayambu Thampuran.

13) Miscreants vandalized the murtis of Chikka Tirupathi Mandir in the Arasikere taluk in Karnataka’s Hassan district. The incident took place at the exhibition centre of Malekallu Tirupathi Hill. This 300-year-old sacred place is known as Chikka (mini) Tirupathi. The temple is located 2 km away from the Arasikere town atop a hill and is revered by the people in the region.

14) In April last year, a 300-year-old Bhagwan Shiv temple was razed to the ground by bulldozers in the Sarai Mohalla in Rajgarh of Rajasthan’s Alwar district. The action was taken under a supposed ‘anti-encroachment drive’ for road widening in the town. The tearing down of the ancient Hindu temple has invited heavy flak on social media and the fury of locals for the Congress state government.

15) In March 2022, a Shiv Mandir located in Bahlolpur village, Sector-63 Kotwali area in UP’s Noida was desecrated and the murtis were vandalized. The murti of Bhagwan Shiv was found broken and blood spilt near the Shivling was discovered the next morning by the pujari who informed villagers gathered in large numbers.

16) The Ganesha Kovil in Ayan Peraiyur near Veppanthattai in Perambalur was demolished as it reportedly encroached on government land. Devotees and Hindu organisations staged a protest against the demolition. Yet the heart-wrenching cries of the devotees were muffled by the roar of the earth mover as the temple was pulled down.

17) The thousands of years old Mata Tripur Sundari temple located in a remote forest area near Devsar town, district Kulgam, south Kashmir, was burnt on the intervening night of 13th and 14th January last year.

18) A man who converted out of Hindu Dharma was arrested for vandalising murtis in Tamil Nadu’s (TN) Dindigul last January. The Ganesha temple in a village in Dindigul was vandalised by one Balakrishnan, a crypto convert, who confessed his crime.

19) At the beginning of January 2022, four incidents of murti vandalism were reported in a span of one week in Tamil Nadu. Amman Kovil in Perambalur, Durga Devi Kovil in Ranipet and Shri Krishna’s murti in Coimbatore were vandalised.

20) The Kanaka Kaleeswarar Kovil near Sriperumbudur, run by Tapovanam Charitable Trust was operating on its own successfully and was also helping small temples around it to survive. In November 2021, the temple was razed to the ground based on accusations of encroaching on government land.

21) In November 2021, the murtis of Bhagwan Hanuman and Devi Durga at a temple on the Gujepur road in the Bilhaur area of the Kanpur district were found in a vandalized condition by a devotee who went to pray in the Mandir.

22) In October 2021, part of Neelamani Durga Devi temple in Pathapatnam was demolished by the Andhra Pradesh government allegedly for the construction of a flyover.

23) Persons believed to be neo-Buddhist radicals allegedly climbed atop a Hindu temple and tore down the saffron flag while raising chants of “baudh dharm ki jai jaikar” (glory to Buddhism). The incident occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Farukkhabad on 20 October 2021.

24) The Jammu and Kashmir Police on 2 October 2021, informed that the Bargheshekha Bhagwati Mata temple situated at Mattan Mountain Ridge in J&K’s Anantnag district was vandalized by unidentified miscreants.

25) In September 2021, a Hindu Mandir was demolished by the BJP-majority Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) even as devotees and locals protested against the move. The demolition of the Ramapeer Mandir in Surat’s Kadodara area was undertaken by the Surat municipal team amidst protests but the protestors, who were detained by the police, were let off later.

We have merely given a snapshot of some of the incidents of desecration of Hindu temples and vandalization of vigrahas of Hindu Devis and Devatas. The intention behind highlighting these incidents that occurred over the past couple of years is to bring to light the hatred of Abrahamic religions towards Hindu Dharma and also point out the apathy of the democratic setup.

Rising instances of Hindu temple attacks in neighbouring Islamic nations & West

Temple desecration and murti vandalization in both Pakistan and Bangladesh have become a regular affair. The instances are too many to recount in a single article. However, the rising instances of attacks on Hindu Mandirs, particularly in Australia and Canada by Khalistanis, should be a cause of concern for Hindus across the globe.

The repeated desecration of Hindu sacred places only puts Hindu tolerance to the test. It is important for Hindu Samaj to unite and pressurize governments to ensure the protection of their Mandirs. In Bharat, freeing temples from government control assumes additional significance in view of these regular incidents of desecration.