In Gyanvapi Dispute District Court Judge ordered the administration to unseal the premises, 30 years later it was sealed on the orders of former Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Hindu devotees start reaching the Mosque to pray in the cellar named “Vyas ka thikana”. The prayer started at 3.00 A.M. Heavy force has been deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
Somnath Vyas, a member of the Vyas family, offered prayers in the cellar before it was sealed in 1993, according to the petition by Shailendra Pathak, the petitioner and a member of the family. He had argued in court that as hereditary priests, they should be allowed to enter the structure and worship there. The court yesterday asked the district administration to ensure that prayers can be held inside the cellar within a week.
Supreme court refuses to entertain petitions related to #Gyanvapi dispute. Court ordered the parties to approach the Varanasi district court. For more details watch this report. #SC #ReporterDiary (@sanjoomewati) pic.twitter.com/D8prJwiouC
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) July 21, 2022
Temple Trust president Nagendra Pandey told PTI that the southern cellar was opened at around 10.30 pm on Wednesday.
“It was necessary to follow the court’s orders, so the district administration made all the arrangements with great promptness,”
The lawyer of the Hindu Side said to the media, “Hindu side allowed to offer prayers… district administration will have to make arrangements in seven days. Everyone will have the right to pray there,”
पूजा की शुरुआत हुई
हर हर महादेव 🚩#बम_बम_काशी pic.twitter.com/AoUsncSlzy— यादवजी 🚩 (@Star_0000077777) February 1, 2024
The Masjid Intezamia committee has filed a revision petition in Allahabad High Court against Varanasi District Court’s order allowing Hindus to perform prayers inside the southern celler of the mosque.
What Is the Gyanvapi Dispute?
The Gyanvapi Mosque dispute is related to the Gyanvapi Mosque located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The mosque is situated near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the holiest sites in Hinduism. In September 1669, Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the temple a mosque was constructed in place, probably by Aurangzeb himself, c. 1678. The temple was left largely untouched to serve as the courtyard of the mosque, and the southern wall along with its cusped arches, exterior moldings, and toranas — was turned into the qibla wall Other buildings in the precinct were spared.
Oral accounts indicate that notwithstanding the desecration, Brahmin priests were allowed to reside in the premises of the mosque and exert their privileges on issues of Hindu pilgrimage. The remnants of the temple, especially the plinth, continued to remain a popular hub for Hindu pilgrims. The mosque came to be known as the Alamgiri Mosque after the name of Aurangzeb but with time, the current name was adopted in common parlance, deriving from an adjoining sacred waterbody- Gyan Vapi (“Well of Knowledge”) which, in all likelihood, even predated the temple.
What is the Archeological Survey of India reports?
On 25 January 2024, the Archeological Survey of India presented its survey report to the court. It stated that several scuptures of Hindu gods were found buried in the cellars. Most of the existing pillars were reused from the old temple and they still had multiple votive inscriptions — in Devanagri, Kannada and Telugu scripts — featuring various names of Shiva. The report concluded that there existed a multi-chambered Hindu temple at the site prior to the construction of the mosque. The report said that the pre-existing structure appears to have been destroyed during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and part of it was modified and reused in the existing structure.