As they say truth needs a big cover for the lie to prosper. In the case of Hindu temples, the wanton destruction, conversion to mosques and cover of time as it passed was used to propagate the superiority of Islam over the infidels. What was unmatched in beauty of architecture and construction was destroyed, mutilated and converted into what the invaders wanted the history to remember.
But truth cannot be long hidden, history shows of the strange manners in which truth resurfaced. Minor repair works, accidental discoveries and excavations have resulted in a large no of temples being discovered beneath new structures which were constructed to destroy a glorious civilization. It might have succeeded in other places but in a country which never gave up fighting and where entire Vedas are memorised verbally, nothing could destroy it.
One such wonder of our time is Rudra Mahalaya of Sidhpur, Gujarat now known as Jami Masjid after its destruction and take over by the invading Muslim hordes. Rudra Mahalaya is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Siva. It was constructed by Chalukyas, started in 943 AD by Mularaja and completed in 1140 AD by Jayasimha Siddharaja. It’s grandeur can be gouged from the fact that even Sultan Ahmad Shahs historians in the book Mirat e Sikandari wrote of the idols inside the Rudra Mahalaya which they said could put the idols of China and Khotan to shame. It clearly states that by the efforts of Sultan and his General Ulugh Khan, Rudra Mahalaya was rid of the idols.
Famous Historian Sita Ram Goel in his book “Hindu Temples what happened to them” has given an incident when Maharaja Jaswant Singh was appointed Governor of Gujarat in 1658, his historian Munhata Nai Nasi made a visit and in his words Sidhpur had lost the spiritual glory and importance during the centuries which followed after its destruction. According to him Sidhpur was founded by Siddharao, who named the place after himself and invited one thousand Brahmans well versed in Vedas to settle there and granted 700 villages around Siddhpur to them. The temple was destroyed by the Sultan Alauddin and many Brahmans were massacred, still some portion of it survived only to be attacked by the next invading horde.
BL Nagarach an expert archaeologist further states that during excavation he found “a standing idol of an Apsara”, “four armed Varuna” and a “two armed female deity holding a sword and a cut head”. Even a layman can tell that mosques do not have idols inside them, unless otherwise the mosque is a Hindu temple under siege. It is pertinent to note that the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) report of the year 1979-80 published in 1983 stated finding Hindu and Jain pantheons stretching back to the 10th century. In one of his chapters Nai Nasi had included a poem by poet Lalla bhat praising the Rudra Mahalaya, Lalla Bhatt says “18000 statues studded with diamonds and 30000 flag staffs with carved stems and gold leaves and thousands of sculpted horses and elephants stand in attendance before the Rudra”
In a nation where even reclaiming the birth place of Lord Rama is still a far thought, there are thousands more temples of our ancestors looking at each of us and waiting for us to to build a collective resolve and come out of our complacency of centuries and simply reclaim what was always ours.
As the famous saying goes a closed room is only in dark as long as no one opens a window and let’s the sun in. We all collectively can open these windows and let in the “Sun” whom we worship. Let it purify centuries of neglect and shine on our great legacy. Time to revive our Heritage, our Civilisation and our Dharma.
Malappuram district in Kerala is now often regarded as the next Kashmir, where the calls of Jihad permeates the air many times a day. Abduction of Hindu women, killing of Hindu youth, desecration of temples, encroachment of temple land have become the new normal.
However Malappuram is also the sacred land of Hindus, where the HinduSamaj once worshiped the most powerful Deities. The typical worship prevalent in Malappuram made the temples famous all over Bharat and people came to pray and as cure for many maladies.
The sacred land of Hindus also attracted the most ruthless of all Islamists invaders HyderAli and his son TipuSultan. The many invasions of Malappuram starting from 1766 AD was fought fiercely by the warrior clans of Malappuram. But the cruelty and attacks on women and children by Islamist forces resulted in blackmail and victory in many instances.
What followed during the Mysorean invasion was loot, plunder and destruction of Hindu temples, and unspeakable atrocities on Hindu women. More than 10,000 Hindu temples were estimated to be destroyed during invasion of Tipu Sultan alone. The Jihad against Hindu Dharma were continued by those left behind by his army and their descendants. The Jihad termed as Mappilah riots repeated every years from the Tipu invasion and culminated in the most gruesome riots of 1921. More than 5000 Hindu temples were estimated to be destroyed in Moplah riots of 1921; more than 10,000 Hindu men murdered for not converting to Islam; and close to one lakh Hindus forced to flee. The nature of atrocities on Hindu women can be gauged by the below as recorded in the book Malabar Rebellion 1921.
“A respectable Nayar lady at Metatur was stripped naked by the rebels in the presence of her husband and brothers, who were made to stand close by with their hands tied behind. When they shut their eyes in abhorrence, they were compelled at the point of the sword to open their eyes and witness the rape committed by these brutes in their presence.”[21]
The riots in Malappuram repeated in 1947 during Partition of Bharat and also in 1992 during RamMandir agitation which saw more attacks on Hindu temples.
The situation now is no different. HinduSamaj is now facing an enemy resourceful with cash to burn, men ready to die for Jihad and an administration remaining as mute witness to the extremism perpetuated in name of religion. The abduction of Hindu women continues unabated, the ideologies of ISIS is professed openly in public, Hindu youth are killed in open streets.
However not all is gloom, as was started an attempt to revive Hindu Heritage by those unwilling to surrender and determined to reclaim everything that belonged to our forefathers. The #ReclaimTemples movement in Malappuram has committed and fearless volunteers reviving the very temples destroyed by Jihadis and organising the Hindu community around these temples. Many of these temples are in places where Hindu population are only around 10% or lesser.
Religious fanatics have openly declared that they will convert Malappuram to an Islamic State by year 2021 and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Moplah riots. Our answer to the same is that whatever the temples destroyed till date will be revived by 2021 and the land of our Gods will also be reclaimed from the encroachers.
We have started by rebuilding Cheriyamundam Vaniyannur Siva temple. The details and the progress of efforts can be accessed via link www.ket.to/kl001
Cheriyamundam Siva temple in Malappuram Kerala was destroyed during 1921 Mappilah riots, it remained in neglect for decades.
Jihadis once slaughtered cow in temple site and dumped the beef waste during a wedding. The bride turned mad in few days as if cursed.#ReclaimTemplespic.twitter.com/ALrzj642Rj
Another temples that is being revived is Alathiyur Subrahmanya Swamy temple in Tirur Malappyram, Kerala. The details and the progress of efforts can be accessed via linkwww.ket.to/kl002
Alathiyur Subrahmanya Swamy temple in Malappuram Kerala now remains as a mute witness to the many wounds inflicted during Moplah riots.
HinduSamaj will now revive the temple and worship.
The revival of each temple is an elaborate process where the entire rituals as mentioned in Tantra shastra and Shilpa Shastras are followed in its entirety. So that means that revival of one temple should not wait for another to be completed. Especially when there are more than 300 Hindu temples waiting to be revived and rebuilt in Malappuram district of Kerala alone. As such UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust is embarking on an ambitious project to start simultaneous revival of all the Hindu temples presently lying in ruins in Malappuram district of Kerala. The objective is to rebuild all the temples in another three years.
The process involves volunteers travelling through the remote locations collecting details of the destroyed ancient Hindu temples, its history and other details. The next process is to organise the devotees and form a committee to be part of the revival of the temple. Next is the Devaprashnam, drawing temple design , construction by Sthapathi with knowledge of the particular type of construction.
For the purpose we are forming a Temple Renovation Fund exclusively for construction and revival of ancient Hindu temples. You may donate to the fund and also request others to do so. The details are as below
We need your support as we rebuild and revive close to 300 Hindu temples from their ruins, organise the Hindu community and reestablish Dharma in this sacred land of our forefathers and the Abode of Hindu Gods. All the Hindu temples in Malappuram district will be restored to their pristine glory and fighting spirit of HinduSamaj will be rekindled in this process.
The 2nd century Kaleshwara temple becomes cynosure of all the eyes during the important VeeraShaiva festivals, particularly Mahashivaratri and thousands of devout hindus throng the temple to have the darshan of the ancient linga installed inside the once beautiful temple.But in the eyes of the Archeological Survery of India (ASI) or the State Archeology Department, this temple, considered to be one of the ancient Hindu temples is a non existent once.
The present; kalagi” known as “Kaluge” in an ancient inscriptions; is 40 kms away from Kalaburagi. It has a temple complex of Chalukyan period. Kalagi was popularly known then as the garden of temples. Kalagi in the seventh century was a well-developed rich city with a population of more than three lakhs –according to the historians. There are more than 30 monuments in and around the Kalagi village. So far eleven inscriptions are reported from this place. Most of the temples belonged to the Shaiva style; of them Bibbeshwara, Gonkeshwara, Jayalingeshwara, Kaaleshwara and Someshwara according to inscriptions found here and now called these temples in different names.
Kalagi is famous for the rare set of Shivalingas in India, which are housed in Kaleshwar temple. According to a legend, these lingas are arranged in four floors, one beneath the other. Presently devotees can see Kaleshwar linga installed on the ground floor. The other lingas beneath the ground are said to be ‘agochara’ invisible. These lingas were consecrated in Krithayuga. Someshwar linga in Trethayuga, Neelakanteshwara linga in Dwaparayuga and Kaleshwar linga in Kaliyuga.
An ancient Suryanarayana temple is on the verge of collapse due to lack of conservation. The temple is considered to be one of the rare shrines and the portion of the side walls of the Suryanarayana temple has already fallen down and roots of the tress that had grown wildly around the shrine can be seen. The ceiling as well as the wall that makes the rare elevation is in a dilapidated state owing to absence of maintenance. The inscriptions were carved between 1043 AD and 13 th Century according to research scholars. The inscriptions on Suryanarana temple and Kaleshwara temple in Kalagi is a standing testimony to the existence of famous kings namely Jayakarna son of the sixth vikramaditya, king Jagadekamalla of Kalyan chalukyas.
Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti peetham visited Kalagi in 1982 and made his stay here for eight days. It was a centre for political, educational, cultural and religious, also a capital city of Mahamandaleshwar of baana dynasty during 12 th century. There are numerous Shivalinga in all most all temples in Kalagi. Outside the temples, beautifully carved inscriptions of Brahma, Vishnu,Ishwar,Bhairav,Nataraj,Uma-Mahashwar, Mahisha-Mardini, Ganesh can be seen.
A Pushkarni (traditional stepwell with natural springs) is also seen nearby Narasimha and Ishwar temple on the bay of Kalagi stream. A few jain basatis are also in panic condition. These Monuments have enriched the culture of the country, but have not been noticed by many. The need is to catch the attention of research scholars, historians and archaeological experts. Now it is necessary that the Archaeology department and tourism department together have to prepare a plan for development of the forgotten cultural splendour and historic monuments of the Kalagi ruins.
Now it is upto HinduSamaj to get the act together for conservation of the Heritage. The structures are crumbling fast, it may have only a few years left unless the Hindu community renovates and revives worship at the temple site.
Over past two year, we have spent considerable efforts in research documentation and also floated few organisations for ground level interventions. The support we received from everyone was overwhelming. The social media was highly supporting of the #ReclaimTemples project, so was the HinduSamaj in various districts who were eagerly waiting for a ray of hope and a helping hand to save them from the situations of despair.
Our experience for past two years tell us that time is now for mass movement to protect the Heritage Hindu temples across Bharat. The #ReclaimTemples project will be implemented in a highly decentralized, highly localized manner with decision making and driving force in the locality where the struggles happen to protect our Heritage structures.
The movement will involve forming Heritage Squads in each district of Bharat. Like minded individuals can come together for this project. The core concern of the Heritage Squads will be the Hindu Heritage sites lying abandoned in the neighborhood.
There are various activities which can be taken up.
Conservation: Wherever the team has located the Hindu Heritage temple in ruins its absolutely essential to talk and bring the local Hindu community on board. A committee of local Hindu society may be formed for upkeep and maintenance of the Heritage ruins.
The main activity involves forming a team of committed individuals in your locality and leading the cleaning up and conservation efforts of Heritage Hindu temples. The activity may be planned over weekends or any day convenient to the group. The events planned can be published in social media using hashtag #ReclaimTemples, so that people all over Bharat can track the efforts on this front and also share widely motivating others also to join.
An independent trust or society can be formed in due time to take forth the efforts in the region and also for financing the expenses incurred. The efforts are localised, so should be the people involved. Include everyone who considers the efforts and objectives important and can join the same than indulge in meaningless legalistic debates.
Research: Around two lakh Hindu Heritage sites remain abandoned across Bharat. Many of these sites dont exists in official records, and there is no clue in official records of its history.
Research part involve locating such sites, photographing it, uploading it on Google Maps, document its history via blogs or articles.
Litigation: Bharat was truly the DevBhumi where Gods owned the lands. Hindu Kings of past donated thousands of hectares of land for upkeep of temple and Deity. The degeneration of temples was followed by usurping of the temple lands by vested interests. Many such lands were taken over even by Waqf and even by Church.
The tasks invovles checking the revenue records in the villages where the temple ruins exist, collect legal evidences of the land belonging to the temples, and start litigation over the title of land.
Evidences may also be collected using RTI and other legal means, good data exists in court records, British government records, as well as various surveys conducted by British government.
Awareness Campaigns: All efforts on your side to revive our Heritage should be published on social media using hashtag #ReclaimTemples. We are keeping track of the cyber space and will record and give publicity to such initiative across Bharat.
Epilogue
Our nation has withstood 1000 years of relentless assault, now is the time to regain whatever we lost. HinduSamaj has waited close two 4 years expecting various politicians they elected to act on Hindu interests, neglect and disdain is all that we got. Our Heritage is very important for survival of Hindu Dharma. Its the duty of every one of us to lead the efforts, not only for one organisation, leader or even the government.
The situation on ground is humongous for any government to manage. Only Hindu Samaj can lead this struggle for revival of Hindu civilization and make it a success.
From our epics and mythologies reminiscent of the times immemorial, we have known of the valour of Hindu Gods and Kings. There were always fight between Dharma and Adharma, the Gods and the Ausuras, and between the Kings who remained on the two opposite ends. And we grew up reading the stories of how the Gods and Kings vanquished all the enemies of Dharma.
In Ramayana the young Lord Sriram voices his doubts over killing Tadaka, the demoness that killed many sages and created havoc in life of innocent people. The wise sage Vishwamitra replies that evil has no gender, caste or creed. Lord Sriram went on to liberate the soul of Tadaka from the cursed life she was leading as a demoness.
Another of our mythology tells the story of Lord Shiva vanquishing the three worlds of the Asuras. When the evil permeated the Tripura and Asuras started attacking the Dharmik life from their Abode in Tripura, Lord Siva turned the three cities to ashes.
Fast forward to present, it may seem that Hindus have a lot to learn from mythology as well as history. Our history reveals galore of the kind acts by Hindu Kings that led to their doom along with the Hindu population and Kingdoms they ruled over. Nobody can forget Prithwiraj Chouhan who let Muhammad of Ghor escape only to see the Muslim invader return to torture him to death, the atrocities on Hindu population and the destruction of Hindu temples.
We have to analyse what went wrong with Prithwiraj Chouhan and what went right in the Acts from our mythology like TripuraDahanam. These two are opposite ways of dealing with Adharma and Asuras. PrithwiRaj Chouhan allowed evil and enemies to gather strength outside Hindu Kingdoms, while Lord Shiva as Trupurantaka reduced the source of evil to ashes via TripuraDahanam.
The Bharat of today, unlike what pseudo Hindu nationalists and Dhimmi organisations want you to believe is on a downward spiral to extinction. The extant of Bharatvarsha is only one fourth of what it was 1000 years before. The enemies which once waged war on it from outside now does it from within. The attacks on Pride and Honour of HinduDharma, our temples and our women are more than ever. Though in ancient times, the perpetrators came from outside, the present times has the Ghazis living amongst us on government benefits and aided by ideology and support from beyond our borders. The speed of disintegration has increased in recent times with Sharia zones being established in villages, cities, districts and states across Bharat.
Dhimmi Nationalists have put forward a solution to the war being waged from within, and it is to call the progeny of invaders as Hindus. They pretend to know nothing of the more than one lakh Hindu temples lying in ruins across Bharat and more than 40,000 lying under Muslim occupation. Desperate for votes and stamps of approval from sworn enemies of Hindu Dharma, they have aligned with those Corporate Gurus who make a living by selling HinduDharma. And the result as usual are shameless deals that will deprive Hindus of their Heritage as well was Pride forever and lead HinduDharma to slow suicide and extinction.
HinduSamaj has to understand that the Dhimmis have neither a solution nor the courage to implement any decision to safeguard HinduDharma. So the only solution will be work towards a goal that will free Bharatvarsha from the pestilence that is ravaging since 712 AD when the first Islamic invasion happened.
And HinduSamaj will have to ensure that the generations to come need not worry about Islamic invaders from beyond our borders or within. This will be possible only when we take care of the source of all Jihad in Bharat.
History tells us of the Pagan temple of 108 Gods in Arabia in the place called Mecca. The temple was converted to a Masjid and the idols destroyed by Muhammad. The end of Jihad will happen when the First Act of War is reversed and no longer there is an inspiration for Ghazis around the world to Pray to before they commit genocide on innocents.
And HinduSamaj can show the way by reclaiming all the Hindu temples that were forcible converted to Masjids and also by rebuilding the Hindu temples now left in ruins. This will lead to a demand and actions around the world to revive the indigenous Heritage structures taken over via acts of Jihad and brute force.
HinduDharma is the sole surviving ancient civilisation that has fought and withstood Islamic invaders from Arabia. Whenever the Ghazis came to destroy us, we had men and women who showed them the valour and courage that vanquished all evil. Hindu civilisation thus has a leading role to play in removing the seeds of terror and their ideology from within and beyond our borders and bestow a world of Prosperity and Peace for generations to come.
As it dawns now, the glee of the morning sun here is seldom accompanied by the saccharine tweets of the parrots and sparrows. The cacophony of the chirrups of the birds craves to trail the blissful hymns that used to be rendered with a precision that could match only with the movement of the Sun and Moon.
The gatekeepers assigned to an eternal duty of preserving the temple, gaze down inscrutably into the river. Nestled in the most picturesque landscape of nature, the river flows inaudibly between two temples as if it were the to reminisce the horrors it has witnessed throughout. Called Pinakini – the divine bow of Lord Shiva, it is now colloquially called Penna, a declension apparent not just in its name but also in its state of affairs.
Time as the witness, the inscriptions wail of the forgotten glory this hamlet in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh held before.
It is a small village close to the now district head-quarters of the Cuddapah district in Andhra Pradesh. The place is called Pushpagiri – A mound of flowers.
Aloof from the parochial lines of discordant beliefs in Hinduism, Pushpagiri has become a centre of intellectual theology under countless kingdoms. In its bosom of faith, it nurtured the ideology of Shaivism and all its primaeval theories with the same fervour as Vaishnavism. When the Hindu world was being torn between the mutually exclusive philosophies about the supremacy of Gods in the same Pantheon, Pushpagiri has tried to persuade the masses to traverse to the thinking of ‘transcendental theology’. The two temples, one for Lord Shiva and another for Lord Vishnu on either bank of the Pinakini river stand as a (partially) living testimony of this catholic notion.
Legend has it that to extricate his mother Vinutha from the shackles of slavery of his stepmother Kadruva, Garuda has embarked on a journey to the heavens to conquer Lord Indra and fetch the holy nectar of Ambrosia. Garuda while returning from the heavenly abode passed by the hamlet then called – Kampalle, where he unintentionally spilt a drop into a local pond formed by the river Pinakini.
The pond was thus granted divine powers of transforming back to their youth, all those that took a dip in it. Consequently, people began to throng the pond for a dip in its waters. Appalled by the prospect of all human beings becoming immortal, the Devas approached God Vishnu who instructs Garuda to cover up the pond with a rock from a nearby mountain.
The megalith Garuda placed on the pond, started floating like a flower – Pushpa in Sanskrit. To stop the pond from surfacing again, the supreme trio (God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva) trampled the rock into the land. Consequently, the name Pushpagiri which in Sanskrit would mean a flowery mound.
Legends aside, Pushpagiri also has a considerable amount of veritable history around it. The Śrīśaila Khaṇda of Skanda Purāna and Rasaratnākara of Satyanātha vouch to this place where significant worship was happening and was mentioned as ‘Dakśina dwāra’ for the celebrated temple of Şrīşailam. This was attested by the inscriptions that abound the place from the time of Ikşvāku dynasty circa 2nd Century CE. From this period on, the list is long and illustrious, including Karikāla Chōla of Chōla dynasty has seemingly imparted significant importance to the site when he ruled the Pottapi nādu.
Hero-stone (Veeragallu) of one of the warriors – Chola Dynasty
In time, this piece of land has reduced to a feudatory under bigger dynasties. Nevertheless, Geography helped and Pushpagiri retained its exclusivity both spiritually and politically. The temple complex has started attracting endowments from the rulers incessantly; Somadeva of Vaidumba dynasty, Chiddana Devaraja of Pallava dynasty, Yadava Singana of Kesa dynasty, Krishna Vallabha of Rāshtrakūta dynasty, Gangaya Sāhini and Ambadeva under Kākatiya dynasty and the Musunuri Nāyaks of Vijayanagar dynasty.
While these kings left inscriptions to the next generations to commemorate their contributions, some significantly contributed with their artistic providence, Gangaya Sāhini and Ambadeva built the Trikuteswara complex as a tribute to Lord Shiva for bestowing them with three daughters.
Musunuri Nāyaks built the Chennakeshava temple which exudes splendid architecture.
While it is common for the kings to be boisterous even in their devotion, Pushpagiri stands away from the crowd. A tantric saint Aghora Shivāchārya, apparently a Shaivite saw it apt to build the gateway-tower (Gopuram) for the Vaishnavite Chennakeshava Swamy temple.
There has been a surfeit of cults around the region of Pushpagiri. Beliefs and traditions date to times immemorial starting from the most traditional Vāmāchāra to the most recent Sāmyāchāra. The temples illustrate the slow and steady progress of Hindu beliefs in this region as the kings started embellishing the temple walls with sculptures that reflect their allegiance. The oldest of these reliefs start with Lakulīşa, a form of Lord Shiva that yields the caduceus symbolising the rising flow of the Kundalini Shakti to the zenith. This clearly demonstrates the presence of the Rasa Śaiva, Veera Pasupatha and Shakteya cults belonging to Vāmāchāra tradition.
Image of Lord Lakulisa with the Caduceus
The river: Pinakini, the mighty river that is fabled to have emanated from the bow of Lord Shiva meanders through the gorges of Gandikota which is close-by and enters the domain of Pushpagiri from the West and turns briefly South and again changes to the East at Pushpagiri. In this process, four of its tributaries mingle with ‘Penna’ – Pāpāgni, Kumudvati, Valkala and Māndavya. This has seemingly enhanced the spiritual status of the place and has begotten it the coveted name “Panca Prayāga”.
Docked in the natural beauty – coupled with a vibrant economy – fuelled by the constant supply of water and resources the region flourished and if you enhance it with a centre for spiritual development, you have the best of all the worlds. People thronged to the place, kings revered and built monuments, Sages clamoured for spiritual development and it gave rise to one of the most vivacious yet dormant cultures. At its crowning moment, Pushpagiri had as many as 1116 temples dedicated to various forms of both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Some of the notable ones can be listed as below:
… and many more. There are at least 100 sanctums and abandoned Nandis that vouch to the fact that they were once revered in a temple.
Mutilated image of a saint – Possibly Buddhism beyond recognition
The story was supposed to have a happy ending until faiths that thought themselves as the most superior of all stepped in. It was a night of horrors. The carnage went on relentlessly as the statuaries were handicapped, crop fields destroyed and the mighty river seemed to stand still – forsaken. The cacophony of parrots and sparrows got muted in the tacit cries of the most revered of deities. Time itself has ostensibly cowered to transpire. But as it mustered the courage to move on, a day of destruction ensued. The river dolefully ferried the remnants of the culture once so esteemed into the Bay of Bengal. Thousands of monuments destroyed, sanctums desecrated and temples vandalised. History etched on rock and preserved in memories has been expunged in a bloody inundation of prejudice and intolerance. A new faith that challenges the very foundations of so many other moralities has taken their place.
Hero-stone (Veeragallu) of one of the warriors – Chola Dynasty
Today, the monuments stand there as a sore testament of what rivaling beliefs can do to civilization – uncared and unwanted. Most of the temples cannot even afford a proper Pūja (worship) and the river as usual flows in all serenity but sans the rhythmic chants, the cacophony of birds and morning glee of the first ray of the sun.
“The (Hindu temple) design is to suggest and symbolize the Universe; the site of a temple is laid out in relation to astronomical observations… every stone has its place in the cosmic design… Can we wonder that a beautiful and dignified architecture is thus devised?” – Ananda Coomaraswamy
At the heart of the ancient city of Vijayapura, in Karnataka, rests a large and ancient temple built in the tenth or eleventh century. Vijayapura, founded by the Chalukyas, was known as the Varanasi of the South. As far back as thousand years ago this temple welcomed pious Hindus eager to experience the beautiful Svayambhu (self-arisen) deity of Siddeshwara. The temple is a charming example of Chalukyan architecture and consists of many large magnificently stone-carved pillars of the Chalukyan style, which is easily recognizable and distinct. There is also a fairly spacious mandapa with friezes that attest to the mastery of the shilpis. For many years this temple was alive with joyous festivals, sacred rituals, yagnas, annadanams (feedings to the poor), Vedic recitations, and classical music and dance. Like any other Hindu temple, this was a microcosm of the sophisticated culture and society that had built it. Inside the temple, there is the customary garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) but the Svayambhu Siddeshwara no longer resides there, or anywhere else on the temple property. The explanation is common but disturbing: the Svayambhu Siddeshwara murti was destroyed in the year 1320 and the temple was pillaged and converted into a mosque by Muslim invaders from the Delhi sultanate per Alauddin Khilji orders.
Karim al-din mosque, a converted 1000 year old Hindu temple
And thus would begin the violent and graphic upheaval and transformation of the thriving city of Vijayapura, where Hindus, Buddhists and Jains freely practiced their religions, into a jarring Frankenstein’s monster-like city, first called Beejnuggar and then finally Bijapur. The temples were destroyed and mosques erected with their materials, Hindu citizens were slaughtered en masse and the survivors forcibly converted or subjugated as dhimmis first, by the Delhi Sultanate and then, by the equally violent Adil Shahs. As historian Sita Ram Goel bluntly states: “No ancient temples survive in the city of Bijapur. “ (Goel, 1990)
In situ Mandapa of Hindu temple inside the Karim al-din mosque
Pillars of demolished Hindu temples used to build Karim al-din mosque
Pillars of demolished Hindu temples used to build Karim al-din mosque
In this particular instance, this temple converted to a mosque is named Karim al-din for that general of Alauddhin Khilji who had invaded the city after several unsuccessful attempts. One of the first things Karim al-din was ordered to do by Khilji was to demolish this and other temples in the city and use the remains to fashion a Jami masjid, or Great mosque of that city. It is evident when seeing the mismatched pillars and other sculptures in the Karim al-din mosque that materials from various different temples were taken and clumsily patched together. This was the usual pattern of the Muslim marauders invading Indian cities, pillaging and destroying their temples and using the materials to ‘build’ their mosques. All of Bijapur is literally littered with such mosques and Muslim mausoleums that are in fact appropriated temples. The destruction of Hindu temples goes hand in hand with mass killings and conversions of the Hindu inhabitants.
Hindu temple carvings of Kirtimukhas inside Karim al-din mosque
Hindu temple carvings inside Karim al-din mosque
Karim al-din mosque’s origins are factually and minutely documented by Henry Cousens as far back as the 1880s. Cousens was the Superintendent for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the British and he meticulously documented the ancient architectures of Indian cities.
Cousens states:
“Not far from the south-east corner of the Chini Mahal is one of the earliest mosques in Bijapur. It is wholly made up of pillars, beams and cornices, taken from older Hindu shrines. The porch, in fact, is part of a Hindu temple in situ; it is the hall or mandap, with its pillar and niches, but wanting part of its roof. The shrine, which was built on this hall on the west, has been entirely cleared away, and a through passage thus gained to the courtyard within, the inner doorway, with perforated screen panel on either side of it has been inserted by the Muhammadans. This space, between it and the next opening, was the antechamber to the shrine of the original temple. An examination of the ends of the walls will shew how the shrine has been broken away from the rest.” (Cousens, 1889)
1885 photo of Karim al-din mosque taken by ASI Superintendent Henry Cousens when he conducted a detailed investigation of the structure
It is natural for a Hindu to feel a profound sense of loss and indignation that this beautiful temple and the society it nurtured were destroyed and a trophy mosque replaced it. Henry Cousens observations are some of the most officially documented proofs of Muslim appropriation and destruction of Hindu temple property in Bijapur. Ironically, current (non-Hindu) Western and Indian leftist academics have been occupied with re-writing history to reflect their agendas, and are intrusively demanding that the native Hindu feel happy that these bizarre structures were built with the violent annihilation of their most sacred places. White academics and their surrogates insist on imposing their Eurocentric Judeo-Christian viewpoint, negating these atrocities. This racism is deep rooted and permeates most modern discourse on demolished Hindu temples and, for the most part, goes unchallenged.
Recently the government decided that the city of Bijapur once again should be officially known as Vijayapura; the ancient city of victory. No sacred rituals, annadanams or joyous festivals have resumed in the converted temple-mosque of Karim al-din however.
References:
Aiyangar, Krishnaswami. South India and Her Muhammadan Invaders. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
Cousens, Henry. Bijapur, The Capital of the Old Adil Shahi Kings: A Guide to its Ruins with Historical Outline. Poona: The Orphanage Press, 1889.
Cousens, Henry. Bijapur and its Architectural Remains. Bombay: The Government General Press, 1916.
Goel, Sita Ram. Hindu Temples What Happened to Them Volume II. New Delhi: Voice of India, 1990.
The Supreme Court has directed to resolve the sensitive issue of rebuilding the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya out-of-court. It’s the dream of every Hindu to see the magnificent Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to end centuries of dispute. However, most of the Hindus are not thinking beyond Ram Mandir, due to lack of awareness about the historical significance and magnificence of other temple sites.
In a series of campaign (including the proof from ASI department), we will be exposing these kind of ancient masjids where earlier they were magnificent temples and is occupied forcefully by jihadis during pre & post independence era. As a country, Hindus have got every right to reclaim these temples & lands to bring back the glory because of various reasons.
Temples are not just stone structures or built to demonstrate monopolizing other religions. For every Hindu, temple is a symbol of identity to Sanatana Dharma as its roots. A temple gives an identity to a Person, Language, Culture, Heritage, Education, Civilization, History, Philosophy, Religious & Spiritual Knowledge, Science, Mathematics, Arts, Skills, Harmony and Ideologies. Historically, we haven’t witnessed any temples destroyed by any of our Hindu rulers. The great Bharatha Varsha is made out of collection of these many magnificent temples with different flavors.
Temple activities are the reflection of society. Currently, we have degenerated ourselves at alarming rates. Most of our Temples have ended up as business hubs & its earnings are misused for corrupt means including funding the jihadis. As a country, Hindus are not fully united since ages, primarily gifted by our Dharma. As individuals we are having our own freedom of speech, expression, interpretation & belief system without hurting the core.
Hindu social fabric is deeply divided & our rulers effectively exploited greatly post independence. We are not uniting for a cause, but all are individually fighting for ‘something’ in the name Hinduism. We don’t know what we need. We don’t have basic objectives to achieve. There are still modern Jaichands who are ready to destroy our remaining identity in the name of (pseudo) secularism.
Instead of building new temples and lavish religious structures, every Hindu should start fighting to reclaim lost and seized Hindu temples along with its assets to reclaim our identity. This does not mean we have to be violent or intolerant. If we follow our Dharma, we will get desired solutions including Saama, Dhaana, Bheda & Danda principles. When ‘tolerance’ becomes ‘weakness’, we have to (re)act firmly. We are not even doing this due to various factors.
All these events show that we have to fight for our own existence to reclaim our identity right from beginning. Hence as a restart to Dharma, need to reclaim all our temples as our Karma, where there are clear proofs of destruction & occupation by jihadis. Hindus should strongly unite, reform & raise above ideological differences, superiority complex, caste wars, discrimination/racism, feudalism without further delays. Dharma won’t die, but we fail Dharma.
Even, if we reclaim Ram Mandir, the problems won’t end & it’s just the beginning to counter jihadists or there will be further increase in threats from jihadists. We will win this battle, and the war must continue till our enemies are no more.
Hindus need a larger vision to restore our glories from our past with modern ideologies keeping Dharma as our foundation. Our history is distorted for the same reason, our identity is suppressed for the same reason, our educational system was weakened because of the same reason. We no need to always stay in the past, blaming ‘others’ or victimizing ourselves because of the ‘others’, now is the time to “think & act firmly”.
Hindus should start thinking the following objectives to understand our roots
• Reclaim Temples from Jihadi occupation
• Rebuild/Renovate Temples presently in ruins
• Rename our Cities
• Release the existing temples from Government control and political exploitation
The above activities unite Hindus & the ideologies for building a Nation.
We are unfortunately competing with other religions by erecting statues, idols, temples overnights at foot paths, streets or any available public places. This is partly understandable, due to insecurity caused by jihadis who are notoriously famous for occupying public spaces.
In a democracy, without mass civil movement, no political party can bring any radical change to counter Jihadis. Remember, Hindu is not a communal by birth. Hindu is more secular & rigidly follows our constitution & law of land than ‘others’. This is because of our roots existing in Dharma.
Firstly, to uphold Dharma, every Hindu should start fighting for his/her rights for the common objectives. To start with, Lets fight to Reclaim our Temples.
And to conclude, Ram Mandir is just one amongst the lakhs of Hindu temples destroyed by Muslim invaders, and one among the 40,000+ temples converted to Masjids. So lets talk of every Hindu temple destroyed by Babur and his compatriots, not just Ayodhya. Lets demand return and reconstruction of every Hindu temple presently in Muslim custody.
If Lord Rama was alive, he would have liberated all Hindu temples forcefully occupied by foreign invaders, not just a temple in his name.
Ishwaran Kovil is an ancient temple that was destroyed by Tipu Sultan, now being reclaimed and rebuilt in the Ramani-mudali-pudur village near Pollachi, Tamilnadu.
Overview of the temple
This temple housing Lord Shiva was originally constructed by Veeranarayana Chola in the year 816 CE. Today its referred to as “Ishwaran Kovil” in Ramani-mudali-pudur village Kaliyapuram panchayat, South Pollachi. The temple was destroyed during Tipu Sultan’s conquest of Travancore (1770-1800 CE), however the temple Acharyas then managed to protect the Shivalinga and the Nandikeshwar murthi burying them in near by agricultural fields.
Shivalinga
Its was in year 1996 a Sanyasi (Thiru Sivanesan Adigalar), from Agasthiya Sishya parampara came to visit the place (Pollachi) all the way from Thiruvannamalai (Agni kshetra Shiva kovil) by Divine ordain (Sage Agasthiyar Adviced so, in his swapna-sthitthi). Adigalar could sense divine presence in the said area, where after excavations the Shivalinga and the Nandikeshwar murthis were unearthed beneath a Vaagai tree (dated 750yrs old).
Nandikeshwar Murthy
Since then, regular poojas have been going on at the site. At present a makeshift temple houses the Lingeshwar and Nandi, while a permanent temple is also being constructed.
New temple being built
Beyond the social media, beyond the news studios, beyond the political rallies, Hindu Samaj is quietly rebuilding the Hindu temples than came under the sword of Muslim invaders.
Address of the temple:
Ishwaran kovil,
Ramanimudalipudur Village,
Kaliyapuram post,
Pollachi Taluk,
Coimbatore District,
TN- 642129.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party victory in 2014 General elections, fault lines started appearing in the united right wing that actively campaigned and propelled NarendraModi to the Prime Ministership. The days that followed presented a rude shock to many who believed that a Swayamsevak who claimed to be a Hindu nationalist will actively pursue the Hindutva agenda and uplift Hindus from all evil, especially from the attack and loot on their temples and protect the cows from slaughter. What happened was not only neglect but intentional insult as per many devout Hindus. Narendra Modi grandiosely proclaimed that Islam is the Religion of peace and GauRakshaks were termed as rowdies on Saffron robes.
For the devout Bhakts, it was all part of a grand strategy, but to many the strategy was the same as that used by many political parties and is called appeasement. As we stand 3.5 years into the tenure of Narendra Modi and 91 years into the formation of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, it will be worthwhile to have an independent appraisal of the ideology and the organizations which many thought will turn India into a Hindu Rashtra.
It will also be interesting to know how and why the RSS terms every other Hindu organization outside its control as fringe. The reason for this is that like all “mainstream” Hindu organizations, they will never support a thoroughly reactionary, hardcore, staunch Hindu uprising. Take the US 2016 elections, for example; did any us notice just how many conservatives and Republicans said no to Trump, or just how many of them sided with Hillary? The reason for that is also the same. Those who are entrenched and recognized cannot entertain something that is genuinely meant to bypass them and not seek their approval for ascendance. The devotion to the cause never matters in their scheme of things.
When the Rakesh Sinhas of the world [Senior RSS ideologue, also Heads the India Policy Foundation] decry Hindu rituals as superstitious, “you” have to take a step back and ponder over the mindset of fellow “allies”. And here “you” mean those conscious of the historical fact that paganism in Europe, for example, was literally murdered first and foremost through the banning of heathen rituals, shortly followed by the wholesale destruction of pagan temples.
Now, this is not to say that the RSS is “bad”. It has done a whole lot of good, and continues to do much good for Indians. And that’s just it, it does good for Indians, not Hindus. As a disaster relief organization, the RSS is quite phenomenal, always the first to show up when a natural calamity happens or a social tragedy happens and help Indians out. Some Hindu-centric approaches have also been made by the RSS through Gharwapsi operations. But that does not mean that the RSS will help Hindus to reclaim their temples, or support staunch Hindus or Hindu organizations make Bharat into the Hindu Rashtra that was once graced by the footsteps of Lord Shri Rama, the best of men, a scourge to his enemies, and the most resplendent.
We have never thought how important of a movement to Reclaim Hindu Temples truly is (the movement to reclaim all Hindu temples that was seized by Muslim invaders and presently used as Masjids, and the movement to rebuild all the destroyed temples of Bharat) and the sheer veracity of such a movement. It is not for the faint-hearted, and is certainly not for anyone who would compromise wíth respect to Dharma. Therefore, it is sadly not for the RSS either. How so? Because the average RSS ideologue, regardless of how “communal” he or she truly may be, still believes in non-sequitorial reasoning like “Hindu-Muslim Bhai Bhai” and utters absurdities like “pseudo-secularism”. Pray, tell me, what in the world is “pseudo” about secularism? Absolutely nothing. “There is nothing ‘pseudo’ about secularism—it is at its most genuine when compelling Hindus to think thoughts that are not their own.” And their co-brothers in Bharatiya Janata Party now are proponents of “SarvaDharma Samabhavana” another word they coined which will translate into pseudo secularism which they are dead against. Organising Iftar for Muslims and hobnobbing with Bishops and sometimes lying at their feet as the BJP Kerala President did is the new Hindutva rituals Sangh ideologues and leaders now follows to establish a Hindu Rashtra.
To offer an example: We once had a Rgvedic king named Trasadasyu. How many of us have heard of this name? It can be translated, in quite a literal sense, as “Before whom the Dasyu trembles”. In other words, before whom the consumer of cow-flesh trembles, before whom he who does not believe in the gods and goddesses of the illustrious ancestors trembles. We once had such a king. And the manifestation of the attempt to transform Bharat into a Hindu Rashtra and reclaim all its temples is a manifestation of that great Vedic king of old.
On other side we have a Rakesh Sinha who tells us to downplay ritualism and the average RSS member still thinks there can be compromise of our rituals as also the Hindu Dharma to accommodate Muslims and Christian sensitievities. Those who are very covetous of their current positions will certainly not be fond of a resurgent Trasadasyu.
And we can safely say that like all “mainstream” Hindu organizations “acknowledged” by the Indian secular government, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its overgrown family is one that cannot, and should not be relied upon for the main concern of making Bharat into a Hindu Rashtra, let alone reclaim its temples.
