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VARANASI: An Indian court has ruled that officials can conduct a scientific survey to determine if the 17th-century Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi was built over a Hindu temple.
The Gyanvapi Mosque is one of several mosques in Uttar Pradesh state that right-wing Hindu groups claim was built on top of Hindu temples allegedly demolished during the peak of Mughal rule from the 16th to the 18th century.
The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is conducting a scientific survey of the mosque in Varanasi which is located next to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The survey was cleared by the Allahabad High Court over the petition by four women claiming that the historic mosque has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. The dispute over the mosque has intensified in recent years.
The Muslim body, Anjuman ntezamia Masajid Committee’s advocates also reached Gyanvapi. The committee earlier boycotted the survey saying it would damage the mosque’s structure.
The Supreme Court of India refused to stay the high court order on the ASI survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, an exercise that the Muslim side says will “reopen wounds of the past”.
The court, however, asked the ASI not to carry out any invasive act during the survey. This ruled out excavations, which the Varanasi court said can be conducted if necessary.
The Supreme Court’s approval came just hours after an ASI team already resumed the detailed scientific survey ordered by the Varanasi district court which granted an additional month till September 4.
A 41-member team on Friday conducted measurement, photography and videography of the barricaded area of the Gyanvapi complex, excluding its sealed area.
The team also conducted topography, collected evidence and prepared a map on a paper sheet. They also examined pillars and will conduct tests to determine the age of the pillars as well as the western wall of the mosque.
A radar survey will also be conducted to determine what lies below the structure, but it will be restricted to the three domes of the mosque.
The survey team will also scan all the cellars in the compound and prepare a list of the artifacts that they find in the building. The artifacts found will also be tested to determine their age.
The mosque’s ‘wazukhana’ (ablution place) – where a structure that the petitioners claimed was a ‘shivling’ – will not be within the ambit of the survey in keeping with the Supreme Court order.
