Several new revelations have come forward in the Gyanvapi survey. The latest visuals show a Shivling within the mosque compound and its wall engraved with Hindu motifs such as Swastika, Trishul, Lotus, and Hindu Devi and Devatas. This discovery gives a clear indication of the existence of a Hindu temple beneath the mosque.
A video of the wuzukhana has revealed a structure that closely resembles a Shivling confirming the claim made by the Hindu side. Hindu motifs including Trishul and Swastikas have also been found engraved on the basement walls. These discoveries reinforce the Hindu claim that the Gyanvapi mosque was constructed over a Hindu temple.
Yesterday, the Varanasi District Court held an urgent hearing on the Hindu application asking for the Gyanvapi survey report including photos and videos. The Muslim side was against the survey report being made public. The court has agreed to hand over the survey report to all the Hindu plaintiffs. The court has instructed them not to make the report public.
On May 16, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar ordered that the Gyanvapi disputed structure be sealed following reports of a Shivling being discovered. The court noted that the discovery of the Shivling was a piece of important evidence. It then directed the CRPF to guard the complex. It also ordered the District Magistrate and the Police Commissioner to protect the site.
The reports of a Shivling being discovered in the wuzukhana had been dissed by the Muslim side who held that it was a ‘fountain’. The Muslim side has not only been resisting the survey report being made public but had earlier objected to the survey itself.
The Varanasi District Court had ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct an archaeological survey of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi mosque complex on a petition filed by a local lawyer VS Rastogi.
Rastogi had filed a petition demanding that the land entailing Gyanvapi Mosque be restored to Hindus as the mosque had been constructed in 1664 by Aurangzeb after destroying the 2000-year-old Kashi Vishwanath Temple that stood at the present site of the mosque.
“A petition filed in 1991 in a Varanasi court claimed that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the orders of Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his reign in the 16th century”, says India Today.
The Hindu parties told the Supreme Court that the Gynavapi mosque in Varanasi is not a mosque, as Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb “did not pass any order to create a waqf over the land in question or for handing over land to any Muslim or body of Muslims”.
“Adi Visheshwar Jyotirling’ at Kashi is Swyambhu Deity and it is the most ancient out of 12 Jyotirlings established in different parts of ‘Tapo Bhoomi’ Bharatvarsh. The Jyotirlingas have a great position under Hindu mythology and its importance has been described in Vedas, Purans, Upnishads, and Shastras followed by devotees and worshippers of Santan Vedic Hindu Dharma,” it claimed. The respondents also alleged that the property in question does not belong to any waqf and it had already vested in the deity Adi Visheshwara much before the start of the British calendar year and is continuing to be the property of the deity.
The new visuals just confirm what has been known for long – the Gyanvapi mosque encroaching the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple.
