The Narendra Modi Vichar Manch believes that a Hanuman temple stood inside the Srirangapatna Fort. The Jamia Masjid mosque was built there during the reign of Tupi Sultan
The Jamia Masjid is said to have been built by Tipu Sultan around 1782. Wikimedia Commons
Even as a Uttar Pradesh court has ordered that Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Masjid complex be closed to the public amid stunning claims by Hindu petitioners that a “Shivling” was found on the premises, a new controversy is erupting in Karnataka.
Right-wing activists have approached the Madhya Pradesh district administration for permission to offer prayers at a mosque – the Masjid-i-Ala or Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna, 16 kilometres from Mysuru. They believe that a Hanuman temple once stood there.
The history of the mosque
Srirangapatna is the capital of erstwhile ruler Tipu Sultan. The Jamia Masjid is located inside the Srirangapatna Fort, which is believed to be built during the Vijayanagar Empire and taken over by Tipu. The mosque is said to have been built by the Tiger of Mysore around 1782, according to a Persian inscription found inside it.
The ruler reportedly built the mosque close to his palace. Two minarets were used as watchtowers during his reign.
A madrassa is now being run inside Jamia Masjid. The structure is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
The row
The Narendra Modi Vichar Manch, a right-wing group, has submitted a petition to the Mandy deputy commissioner seeking permission to offer pooja at the mosque, urging the Karnataka government to stop the site from being used as a prayer hall. It believes that idols of Hindu deities are still inside the mosque.
Manch state secretary CT Manjunath met the officials in Mandya on Saturday and submitted a memorandum to allow Hindus to offer pooja inside the mosque.
“The documentary evidence of Tipu writing to a ruler in Persia admitting that there was Hanuman temple and the mosque where Hindu inscriptions on its pillar and walls support our stand. We requested them to open the mosque’s doors to offer prayers,” Manjunath told The Indian Express.
Rishi Kumar Swami, seer of the Kali mutt, claimed that the temple, which was built before the rule of the Mysuru kings, was destroyed in 1784. “During the rule of Tipu Sultan, the Hanuman temple was converted into a mosque. There is clinching evidence to prove that the mosque was a Hindu temple once,” he had said last week, according to a report in The Deccan Herald.
Swami was arrested in January on charges of giving a call to demolish the mosque. He is now out on bail.
What politicians are saying
Former Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa had claimed that Muslim leaders had admitted that a temple existed at the site before the mosque and around 3,600 temples were destroyed or damaged during the Mughal rule. “Without creating any trouble, we will reclaim all of them in accordance to the Supreme Court rule,” he had said.
The new controversy arises amid the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex case. Monday was the last day of the court-mandated survey of the complex following a petition seeking permission to hold prayers at a shrine behind the mosque.
With inputs from agencies
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