Praarambh: The Beginning

Tanvi Choudhary
The Lookthrou Mag
Published in
3 min readAug 5, 2020

In his epic saga, the Ramayana, Maharishi Valmiki takes us on a very celebrated pilgrimage through this tale he witnessed, about Lord Vishnu’s seventh incarnation, Rama.

The Majestic Ayodhya

The Beauty of the Ayodhya from the eyes of Valmiki sets up this picturesque view of this holy city bejeweled with incomparable hues and skyscrapers. A city not just wealthy and prosperous with money and jewels but also blessed and wealthy with joyous and kind people who adorns its prosperity more.

Gold carving illustration of the Ayodhya at the Ajmer Jain temple

Established by Lord Rama’s ancestors, Vivaswan’s (Surya) son Vaivasvata Manu and from there the bloodline of the Suryavanshi rulers began. But it was told that after the defeat of Suryavansh’s last ruler in this kingdom, king Kaushalraj Brihadbal in the Mahabharata war, Ayodhya lost its charm too, but the existence of the Ramjanmbhoomi remained pious.

History of the Ram Mandir

In 100BC, Emporer of Chakravarti dynasty, King Vikramaditya of Ujjain found this place.

Shri Laxman, Lord Shri Rama, and Sita Devi in the forest.

Hunting and shooting in the then dense forests of Ayodhya, he decided to dissolve his fatigue state on the banks of the Saryu river, under a mango tree. Where he experienced not just physical relaxation, but also gained spiritual relaxation. Also, he witnessed and observed some miracles, due to which his curious mind guided him to the yogis and saints. And by their grace, he found out that this miraculous place is Awadh, the holy land of Shri Rama. And hence, with saints’ blessings and instruction he successfully built a magnificent temple on 84 pillars made up of black-colored stone. The glory of this monument was truly poetic and remarkable.

Timelines and Events

After King Vikramaditya, many kings and ministers came together and carried on to protect and continue the legacy of this temple. From time to time, emperors performed different yagnas and rituals.

This elegant land filled its arms with different religions and their religious shrines. But also observed all foreign invasions and wars through time.

  • In the 11th century CE, came the Kannauj King Jayachanda, who overthrew the citation inscription of Emperor Vikramaditya on the temple and got his name written. But he came to an end after the battle of Panipat.
  • Eventually, along with Ayodhya, the loaded temples of Mathura, Kaashi and a lot more temples won prior spots in foreign invaders’ ‘to loot’ list.
  • Ram Mandir stood tall gloriously and canceled all incursions but that stayed that way till the 14th century.
  • In the 14th century, the Mughals took control of India, which aided and accelerated campaigns that carried out to destroy the Ram Janmabhoomi and Ayodhya.
  • Finally, in 1527–28 this grand temple was dismantled and replaced by the Babri structure.
Ayodhya under British rule.

The Babri Masjid Demolition

1949: Lord Ram idols were found inside the mosque and some claim that they were placed in there. This case ignited both sides to file cases.

1984–1990: There were groups formed, which paced up campaigns to reconstruct Ram Mandir again. This movement fueled the district court to pass an order, which allowed devotees to enter and pray. But it wasn’t successful to calm the situation.

The first attempt to demolish Babri Masjid was in 1990

1992: The disputed structure was damaged by karsevaks and a standby temple is put in place on 6 December. Two FIRs were registered on the same day.

Sources: Webdunia, theQuint.

All images belong to their respective owners.

--

--