Message Board

Should the Centre impose President's Rule in Uttar Pradesh to stall VHP's temple designs? Post your views

Lucknow: In what could be a turning point in the Ayodhya dispute, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has reported to the Lucknow High Court that its excavations found distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site, even as the Sunni Central Waqf Board termed the report as "vague and self-contradictory".

The 574-page ASI report consisting of written opinions, maps and drawings was opened before the Full Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on August 25 morning.

The report said there was archaeological evidence of a massive structure just below the disputed structure and evidence of continuity in structural activities from the 10th century onwards upto the construction of the disputed structure (Babri Mosque).

Among the excavation yields it mentioned were stone and decorated bricks, as well as mutilated sculpture of divine couple and "Carved architectural members including, foliage patterns, amalaka, kapotapali, doorjamb with semi-circular shrine pilaster, broken octagonal shaft of black schist pillar, lotus motif, circular shrine having pranjala (watershute) in the North and 50 pillar bases in association with a huge structure.

The archaeological evidence and other discoveries from the site were indicative of remains, which are distinctive features found associated with the temples of North India, the ASI report said.

The ASI report said there is sufficient proof of existence of a massive and monumental structure having a minimum dimension of 50x30 metres in North South and East West directions respectively just below the disputed structure.

In the course of present excavations, nearly 50 pillar bases with brick bat foundation below calcrete blocks topped by sandstone blocks were found, the report said.

It said the pillar bases exposed during the present excavation in the Northern and Southern areas also give an idea of the length of the massive wall of earlier construction, with which they are associated and which might have been originally around 60 metres.

The centre of the main chamber of the disputed structure falls just over the central point of the length of the massive wall of the preceding period, which could not be excavated due to presence of Ram Lala at the spot in the make-shift structure, the ASI report said.

In a significant observation the report said towards East of this central point, a circular depression with projection on the West, cut into the large sized brick pavement, signifying the place where some important object was placed.

However, the ASI report said various structures exposed right from the Sunga to Gupta period do not speak either about their nature or functional utility as no evidence has come to approbate them.

PTI