Ram was the crown prince of Ayodhya as he was the eldest, most obedient & eligible son of the king. But, this fact did not go quite well with one of his step mothers, Kaikeyi. She wanted her son Bharat to be the king but Bharat was happy with his elder brother Ram being the king. But, Kaikeyi with her maid Manthara made evil plans against Ram. She took resort to a promise of King Dashrath to Kaikeyi. As per the promise, the king was to fulfill a demand of the youngest queen as she raises one, whatever and whenever. She misused this promise and asked Dashrath to make Bharat the king of the empire and send Ram to exile for 14 years to Dandakaranya (Dandaka forest).
In order to keep his promise, the king had to send Ram on exile. Ram was accompanied with his wife Sita and one of his your brothers, Laxman. They gave up all the luxuries of life to live the life of the sages in the forests. They had a very tough time and faced a lot of challenges. The major challenge was Ravana kidnapping Sita and taking her to an entirely different kingdom beyond the seas to Lanka. Ram, with the help of Hanuman and other beings, was able to get back Sita and kill Ravana. Hence, the incarnation’s aim was successful. This day is celebrated as Dussehra in the present time that implies defeat of the evil and win of the good.
Victorious Ram returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and the day, considered auspicious by the Hindus, was celebrated hugely in the city. Now-a-days, this day is celebrated across India as Diwali. Even after completing exile and coming back to Ayodhya, Ram and Sita had a tough time. Sita had to face an ordeal (Agni Pariksha) to prove her purity and that made her humiliated in front of the entire city. Sita finally took herself back to earth for self respect and they couldn’t be together. Ram & Sita had two sons, Luv and Kush who resided in the ashram of Sage Valmiki. It was Valmiki who wrote great Epic Ramayana.
Genealogy (Vanshavali) of Ram: Find the glorious genealogy of Ram.
Historical Details of Ramjanmabhoomi Temple: Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya is the exact spot on earth where Lord Ram was born. Ramjanmabhoomi is comprised of three words - Ram, Janma meaning birth, and Bhoomi meaning the piece of the land. Ayodhya is the birth place of Lord Ram. It is a very well known fact but the exact piece of land where Lord Ram was born is called as the Ramjanmabhoomi.
Ramjanmabhoomi has been one of the most sacred places for a Hindu. The Hindus used to visit and pray at the temple built here by several kings. Muslim invaders attacked Ramjanmabhoomi temple, destroyed & built a mosque over it. They named it Babri Masjid. The Hindus kept resisting the existence of a mosque at Ram’s birth site. In this regard, to recover the temple site, a petition was filed in the court by the Hindu community. This court case is probably the longest one in India’s history. The demolition of the earlier Ram Mandir, construction of the Babri Masjid on the same spot and its destruction again on the 6th of December, 1992, by 1,50,000 ‘kar sevaks’ led to the most serious Hindu Muslim riot in the history of India ever. In the riot, around 2000 people were killed.
The verdict on Ram Temple case has been one of the longest and the most important case in India for the Hindus. It was in the year 1853 AD when the first ever communal violence happened during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. It was the first time when the Hindus rose up and razed the mosque being built on the land of the temple. Since the clashes between the two communities became frequent hereinafter, therefore, the British built a fence around the mosque area and differentiated the place of worship in the year 1859 AD. The inner court was given to the Muslims and the outer court to the Hindus.
In 1885 AD, Mahant Raghubir Das raised a plea for building a canopy on Ram Chabootra but that was rejected by Faizabad district court.
When India got independent, the case got serious and Hindus were demanding justice. In 1949 AD, with no immediate action in the sight, some of the Hindu activists forcefully placed idols of Lord Ram & Goddess Sita inside the mosque. The Muslim activists filed a case against it. However, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru ordered the idols to be removed. Keeping in view growing tension, the government declared the area as the disputed land and locked the gates. The idols remained inside the mosque.
In 1950 AD, a suit was filed by Gopal Singh Visharad for asking permission to worship the idol that was placed inside the court at the Sthan Janmabhoomi. The court held back the removal of the idols and also allowed the worship inside.
In 1959 AD, a new contender, Nirmohi Akhara filed a suit claiming that the land or the Ramjanmabhoomi belonged to them.
In 1961 AD, it was the Sunni Waqf Board filed a suit with the petition for seeking the possession of the mosque and adjoining land along with the solution for the installation of Lord Ram’s idol.
In 1986 AD, a case was filed by Hari Shankar Dubey seeking permission to offer prayer at thesite and the district court directed to unlock the gates for the Darshan for the Hindu community. In retaliation, the Muslims set up Babri Masjid Action Committee to protest the decision. As the result of this, the gates of the mosque was open for less than an hour and was closed again.
In 1989 AD, the case was taken to the Allahabad High Court by Deoki Nandan Agarwal. The entire file suit of the case came under the scanner of a special bench of high court. While the legal fight was going on, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad put up the foundation stone on the adjacent land to the mosque. Allahabad High Court delivered a decision by trifurcating the land and allotting them to different communities but all the concerned parties rejected to accept this decision.
During the course of time, several petitions and suits were filed in this regard. All these cases were then taken to the Supreme Court and the final decision came in November 2019. On the basis of historical and archaeological evidences, Supreme Court of India gave verdict in favour of the temple. The foundation of the structure dated back to 100 BC when Vikramaditya had built the Ram Temple afresh.The case was finally won by the Hindu community. The Ramjanmabhoomi has been given to the Hindus and five acre land would be given the Muslim community for building a mosque.
History of Hindus’ War with Muslims since 500 Years: Ramjanmabhoomi, the place where Lord Ram was born, has been sacred for the Hindus since ages. Before the advent of the barbaric Islamic invaders, India was unaware of religious vengeance and inimical intolerance for differing faiths. The cruel and uncivilized Muslim infiltrators razed temples, universities and monasteries out of sheer intolerance for any other religious faith. During the reign of first Mughal king Babur, his commander Mir Baqi demolished Ram Mandir at Janmabhumi and erected a mosque thereupon. The construction of the mosque got completed in 1529 AD which was exactly one year before Babur died. The name of the mosque was given as Babri Masjid on the name of the Mughal invader Babur. The Hindus fought several battles with the Muslims to recapture it. As per historical records 4 battles during Babur’s reign, 10 battles during Humayun’s regime, 20 battles during Akbar’s rule, 30 battles & skirmishes during Aurangzeb’s reign, 5 battles during reign of Sa’dat Ali of Awadh, 3 battles during Nasiruddin Babur’s rule, 2 battles during Wazig Ali Shah’s regime & 2 battles (1912 & 1934) during British regime were fought. It shows the importance of Lord Ram in the Hindus’ social and cultural existence.
Ramjanmabhoomi Court Case – Past & Present: The court cases filed and numbers of judgment sessions raised around Ramjanmabhoomi issue are immense. Though several orders, directives and injunctions were passed by various courts but not all of them went well with everyone. In 2011, the court case was taken to Allahabad High Court. The court directed that the disputed land can be divided among the Hindus, Muslims and also a Hindu religious sect based near the site. Since none of the parties agreed to the decision and moved the Supreme Court of India.
In 2019, the Supreme Court of India appointed a three members panel for mediation. Out of these three people, one was a Muslim retired judge of the Supreme Court, a very popular Hindu spiritual guru, and a senior advocate. The objective of the mediation was to create a balance around this conflict and bring a middle ground solution. The court is given an adjudicatory task in the present case of unique dimension to resolve the conflict of an immovable property. The court is entitled to decide on the basis of hard facts & evidences, overlooking belief or faith. The law provides parameters clearly but as profound as ownership and possession. On the principles of the evidence, the court will adjudicate as to which party has established a claim over the immovable property. On the balance of probabilities, there is clear evidence to indicate that the worship by the Hindus in the outer courtyard continued unimpeded in spite of the setting up of a grill-brick wall in 1857 AD.
The Muslims have offered no evidence to indicate that they were in exclusive possession of the inner structure prior to 1857 since the date of the construction in the sixteenth century. The final judgment was a historic one that was declared on the 9th of November 2019. The years of conflict ended with the final judgment going in the favour of the Hindus. The court declared that the archaeological evidences showing the existence of the Ram Mandir before the construction of the Babri Masjid. The disputed land is finally given to the Hindu trust to build the Hindu temple. To the Sunni sect of Muslims, an alternate 5 acres of land is given Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of the mosque. Government of India has already created the trust to be known as Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra. The trust will oversee the construction of grand Ram Temple on 67.703 acre land.