One thing should be clarified regarding the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple movement is that it was not a fight for just a temple. This nation had been fighting the imperial forces that invaded India over the last 1300 years. We are all aware of that history. It was assumed that the destruction caused by the invaders would be restored after India’s Independence. It is shocking that it didn’t happen. No society in this entire world can live without respect and pride. In those 1200-1300 years, India witnessed unprecedented occurrences. The invaders were extremely intolerant. They were fully prepared to erase all signs of Bharatiya culture and spirituality. They had already erased cultures in many places around the world. They recurrently vowed to break temples in India and even managed to do so. Post- Independence it felt like these temples would be restored but the Hindus of India didn’t decide to rebuild with such a vision. It would have been better if the Muslim society living in India had come forward to atone for their ancestor’s wrong doings. If they had given back some important places as a gesture of atonement. Had they done so, then probably there would have been better coordination and harmony.
The Essence of Spirituality
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, a celebrated poet, wrote a book titled Sanksriti Ke Char Adhyay (Four Chapters on Culture). He writes that no attempt to achieve Hindu-Muslim unity was successful in this country. The hearts had such deep scars that they never healed. The depth of these scars reached such darkness, that they would destroy the temples again and again but they wouldn’t ever peacefully sit on the debris of those temples and pledge to build new ones. Neither the Greeks, nor the people of Mesopotamia not even the people of Egypt and Persia were able to take such a resolution. But, the people of India did have such a resolve that whenever the opportunity arises we would build our temple. Time and again we would build a temple on the top of the remains of the ones destroyed. The invading forces were unable to break the resolve of these people who would stand up each time to rebuild the temple on the remains of the one destroyed. American historian Arnold Toynbee writes about the generosity of this Hindu society and expressed great surprise that Aurangzeb’s mosque in Varanasi was still there. He felt that it should have been removed and illustrated the issue with a Polish example. In 1817, when the Russians conquered Warsaw, they converted the city’s main church from a Catholic to an Orthodox place of worship, merely to humiliate the Poles. When in 1918 Russia had lost in World War I and Poland became independent, the Poles retaliated by demolishing the Orthodox church and replacing it with a Roman Catholic one. That was for national honour, said Toynbee. He said in a seminar in New Delhi, “…You people are not like the people of Warsaw, Poland. You are more liberal. You are still tolerating them…” That is why it is just not about the movement for a temple in Ayodhya. The Hindu society had been fighting for more than 1000 years. There are two important things; First that India fights and remains alive; it did not get perish like Greece, Mesopotamia, Persia or Rome. This is because we are spiritual. India doesn’t fall into pieces because it is spiritually rich. Despite the diversity, Indians live as one. Just imagine if in 1947 India would have decided to demolish the structure (in Ayodhya), nobody could stop it. But nothing of that sort was done. India believes in talking and resolving matters with love. Since the temple was not rebuilt, there was a big movement. Ayodhya is just a symbol, but what does this symbolise? That is the second big question. The entire world including all of us should understand what Ayodhya symbolises.
Emblem of Unity
Ayodhya means what? Ayodhya is an excellent example of how we have lived together in diversity for thousands of years. Ayodhya is not just the birthplace of Shri Ram. We all know that it was the centre for all His ancestors. There has been a very extensive traditional wealth in Ayodhya. The people of our country are only aware of this much. But most of us are unaware of the fact that Ayodhya is the birthplace of first Terthankar of Jain religion Aadinath Rishabhdevji and many others. They believe themselves to be the descendants of Shri Ram. Five Teerthankars of the Jain religion, Ajitnath, Abhinandannath, Sumitnath, Anantnath are all believed to belong to the same dynasty. Bhagwan Mahavir himself gave Deeksha to the King of Ayodhya and believed that he was from the same dynasty.
Guru Nanak Devji visited Ayodhya and stayed there for a very long time, Guru Teghbahadur visited Ayodhya. Shri Guru Gobind Singhji also stayed in ayodhya while returning from Patna
Do we know Lord Buddha also believed that he was of the same dynasty? Lord Buddha spent maximum amount of Chaturmas (a holy period of four months), for sixteen years in Ayodhya. The first King of Ayodhya was a Buddhist. The Chinese travellers Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang both extensively described Buddhism. Buddha used neem stems to brush his teeth at the same Kund where Shri Ram cleaned his teeth. Buddha dug his neem stem there. A huge tree grew at the spot. The two Chinese travellers have described this tree. They write about the Ashok Stupa as well. This implies that Ayodhya was also a centre for Buddhism.
The Sikh religion was not an exception to this. Guru Nanak Devji visited Ayodhya and stayed there for a very long time. Guru Tegh Bahadurji visited Ayodhya. Shri Guru Gobind Singhji also stayed in Ayodhya while returning from Patna Sahib. There are two Gurdwaras, Najarbagh and Brahma Kund in Ayodhya where the records of these three Gurus are stored. After Guru Gobind Singhji, the Nihang troops went for the Ram Janmbhoomi movement in Ayodhya. They all were martyred. These Gurdwaras have preserved the swords and weapons of the two Gurus and the Nihangs. Ayodhya is a big centre for Nath Yogis. A king by the name of Samudrapal Yogi followed by 17 generations of Yogis ruled over Ayodhya.
Revisiting through Research
Saroj Bala, an IRS officer from Delhi, is a very learned lady. She conducted a research on finding exact dates of Shri Ram’s birth, Dashrath’s Yajya praying for a son, when Shri Ram left for the forests, his marriage, etc, based on the shlokas in old texts and scriptures. Valmikiji describes the positioning of the moon during such particular instances in Ramayan. He describes the positions of Jupiter, Mars and mercury in his shlokas.
On a certain day or date what was the position of the planets. Saroj Bala entered these details in a computer ised programme. She presented her finding in presence of many scholars. According to her, the planets were found to be in the same position as described in the text. At that time, the date was not marked as it is done today. The date was described on the basis of the planetary and Nakshatras (Lunar Mansions) in Hindu astrology. Saroj Bala found the exact date of Shri Ram’s birth. The time of the Yajya, marriage of Shri Ram and Mata Sita, their date of leaving for Vanvas and the day they returned to Ayodhya.
Ayodhya has been a centre of many religious groups since thousands of years. The district magistrate of Ayodhya in 1901 was a man named Edward. He formed a club called Edward’s Pilgrimage Records Club. They researched and curated a total of 148 places in Ayodhya which has a religious or spiritual eminence; they have placed a stone at each of these spots. The first marble stone was placed at Ram Kot where Shri Ram was born. This was called Pilgrim Spot No.1., and similarly numbering was done with a marble stone at each of these places. If we research about Ayodhya at that point in history it was a beautiful centre for the entire world. There might have been ideological or religious differences based on idol worship or not, being followers of Lord Shiv and Vishnuji and who believed in Shakt and others who became Arya Samajis. Ayodhya became a beautiful centre of amalgamation of all.
We are also aware of how Ayodhya was destroyed. When Allauddin Khilji destroyed Ayodhya, the Rajputs of the area left Ayodhya. They went to Shyam Das. They found a new city there, it is still called Ajudhya. That kingdom functioned from 1350-1757. Many of you must be aware of the poet Khusrau, he is known as the first writer ever. He wrote a glossary recording both in Hindi and Farsi words, his work was called Khaliq Bari. He wrote this work in Ayodhya. ‘How was this great culture destroyed? It is heartbreaking’ wrote Will Durant, the American historian, who has written extensively about the destruction that happened across India.
Shri Ram: The Connecting Thread
Ram is righteous, a philosopher, a pious protector, a master and the teacher of religion. He is an ideal king, an ideal son, an ideal brother and also an ideal husband. This is why when Valmikiji asked Maharshi Narad about whose character he must write, Naradji advised him to write about Shri Ram who would become an inspiration for people through ages. Today, there is not a single language in the country in which Ramayana hasn’t been translated/ written. Ramayan is available in Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Odia, Bangla, Bodo among other languages. In every language Ram’s character is described as the ideal one. The staunch critic of Shri Ram was also Ramaswamy Naicker, the key figure in Dravidian Movement. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s full name is Jayaram Jayalalitha. A prominent leader of her party was M.G. Ramachandran. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was NT Rama Rao. People say that Ram is absent in Southern India. Lohiaji used to say that Ram brings the North and South together. Ram doesn’t just mean Dashrath’s son and, Ayodhya’s Ram. Kabir’s Ram is different, Tulsidas’s Ram is different: One Ram who is Dasrath’s son, one Ram that resides in everyone and everywhere. One Ram who is reflected in all and one Ram who is one of his kind (unique).
Some people have a lot of problem believing this. They say that the constitution brings the nation together as one. If a Constitution was actually capable of bringing a nation together then why did USSR fall apart? If the army is capable of keeping the nation as one, then how did Yugoslavia gor disintegrated? How did Pakistan break apart after 25 years? We didn’t fall apart and we will never break apart. Ram Manohar Lohiaji says that the power that keeps this nation together is spirituality. It is Shiv, Ram and Krishna. It is India’s spiritualism. Ayodhya was the name of the force that unified the nation. India was able to develop such a place because there was diversity in the languages spoken. They ate and drank differently. They had diverse thoughts and perceptions. There was a diverse literature. The clothes and attire were different and varied. There were different kingdoms and different kings. The armies were different, but there has been one Rashtra called ‘Bharat’ and there has been the same edifice of this Rashtra for all.
There was a process adopted to make this happen. There was a development of diverse places of pilgrimages here. You just have to stand at the Kumbh Mela. Whether somebody is Tamil or Telugu or Hindi speaker; whether somebody is a big minister or a small worker, everybody comes to take bath in the holy waters of the Ganga. The Ganga keeps us together as the Rashtra. Similarly, Rameshwaram, our Kedarnath, Badrinath brings the Rashtra together as one. Our Ayodhya brings us together as one.
Whoever is Sanatan here will help the spirituality to grow. They will bring spirituality and also keep the Rashtra together. Today, the world is heading towards a new phase. This phase propagates accumulation of material wealth. There is a race to collect all amenities for luxurious life. There is no spirituality in it. Bharat is the only place where a fine balance between spirituality and materialism is maintained. We do not neglect the secular, materialistic world. Everybody was living peacefully in Ram’s Ayodhya. Nobody had hatred for anyone. Ram’s glory lies in his spirituality. Can we reimagine such an Ayodhya which brings together the people with diverse views, sects, ideas not just in Bharat but around the world and teaches that the entire universe is one? Humanity is one. The entire living world is one. We should all move forward as one. Everyone should come forward to solve the problems of others. This is what spirituality of Bharat propagates. Bharat’s Ayodhya is the source of inspiration for this Sanatan vision. That is the Ayodhya we intend and feel for. This is not just about one temple. Ayodhya will move forward and it will grow. Ayodhya will be the source of new direction for the entire world.
(This article is based on his speech ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi: The Future Vision’, delivered during the Sixth India Ideas Conclave, organised by India Foundation at Kevadiya (Statue of Unity) Gujarat on March 1, 2020)
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