Combo Set Of 2 Books : Battle For Rama | Rama & Ayodhya

Description

1. Battle For Rama : Case Of The Temple At Ayodhya :-

For over decades, a handful of Left historians have strenuously endeavoured to stymie the Ramjanmabhumi movement. From questioning the antiquity of Rama worship and the identity of ancient Ayodhya, they have also challenged the widely held belief Babri Masjid was built on the site of the Janmabhumi temple.

Scholars have, however, traced the antiquity of the Rama Katha as far back as sixth-fifth century BCE, when ancient ballads (akhyanas) transmitted Rama’s story orally. Valmiki’s Ra,ayana itsenf has been dated to the fourth-third century BCE. Over the centuries, Rama’s story has been re-told in many vernaculars of the country. Rama is the exemplar of moral values for Hindu society and epitomises its aspirations of artha, kam, and above all, dharma.

The proceedings of the Allabad High Court have exposed the vulnerabilities of Left historians. They could proffer no evidence of continued Muslim presence at Babri Masjit, while the unwavering commitment of Hindu devotees to the site had been attested by several sources. Babri Masjit was not mentioned in the revenue records of the Nawabi and British periods, nor was any Waqf ever created for its upkeep. No Muslim filed an FIR or complained of dispossession or obstruction in his alleged use of the Masjid when the image of Sri Rama was placed under the central dome on 23rd December 1949. The Sunni Central Waqf Board entered litigation on 18th December 1961,, just five days before the twelfth anniversary of the placement of the image in the Masjid, on which date any claim would have become time-barred. The Board did not file a suit for possession, instead it sought a declaration on the status of the property.

2. Rama and Ayodhya :-

This work briefly examines the antiquity of the Rama Katha and spread of the Rama cult over the Indian subcontinent in the context of claims of Left academics on its late popularity. Its main focus is the conflict at Ayodhya over the Ramjanmabhumi temple allegedly destroyed by the Mughal Emperor, Babar, in 1528. It examines the accounts of foreign travellers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and British administrator-scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which testify to Ayodhya?s continuing importance as a pilgrimage centre associated with Rama?s birthplace. The extended litigation over the Ramjanmabhumi/Babri Masjid in colonial times further attests to the persistence of the claims to the Janmabhumi. From the late 1980s, Left historians have been in the forefront of the campaign against the Rama temple. They have argued that Rama worship was an eighteenth-nineteenth century phenomenon and the present-day Ayodhya acquired its standing and identity only in the fifth century AD, during the rule of the imperial Guptas. According to Left academics, the identification of the Ramjanmabhumi in Ayodhya was ?a matter of faith, not of historical evidence?. They also rejected any possibility of the Babri Masjid being built on the site of the Janmabhumi temple. Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) proved the inaccuracy of these assertions. And finally, the judgement of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) marked a decisive moment in the dispute over the Janmabhumi. The writings of Left academics, the findings of the ASI, the extended arguments in the Allahabad High Court and its eventual verdict form the subject of this study.