Author: Prafull Goradia
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 12, 2000
One night during the
monsoon of 1991, the rain was so heavy that it washed away the wall that
was concealing the frontage of the Bijamandal mosque raised by Aurangzeb
in 1682.
This unusual masjid is
a centre of attraction in the district town of Vidisha situated some 40
km from Bhopal. The broken wall exposed so many Hindu idols that
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was left with no choice but to
excavate. For three centuries, these idols were buried under the
platform which was used as the hall of prayers conducted specially on the
days of Eid. Fortunately, the district collector in 1991 happened
to offer protection to the surveyors of the ASI who were otherwise reluctant
to expose themselves to the wrath of the devout.
Rich treasures of sculpture
were thus salvaged. Some of the statues were particularly splendid;
some went up to a height of eight feet. The work of the archaeologists,
however, did not last long. The ASI soon received instructions to
stop further work. The officer of the ASI working on the excavation
was transferred out as was the collector. Whether this had anything
to do with the new HRD Minister (1991-94), who happened to be the leader
of the self-styled secular lobby in Madhya Pradesh, is not known.
Since then, the Bijamandal mosque is marking time with a great deal of
sculpture hidden under its southern side.
Aurangzeb was the last
of the iconoclasts that had a go at this edifice which was then known as
the Vijay Mandir from which the successor mosque was known as Bijamandal.
He celebrated the visit by renaming Vidisha as Alamgirpur. Despite
some excavations between 1971 and 1974 which showed clearly that Bijamandal
was originally a temple, namaz at Eid time continued right until 1965 when
Dr Dwarka Prasad Mishras Government banned worship in, what was, a protected
monument. Dr Mishra earned the gratitude of most Vidishans and many
others in Madhya Pradesh.
Sultan Bahadur Shah of
Gujarat was the iconoclast preceding Aurangzeb. He captured Vidisha
and about the first thing he did was to desecrate the Vijay Mandir claiming
that the conquest of Bhilsa (the earlier name of Vidisha) was in the service
of Islam. The episode is recorded in Mirat-i-Sikandri. About
200 years earlier, Sultan Alauddin Khilji had also enjoyed the devout pleasure
of damaging Vijay Mandir. The honour of being the first iconoclast,
however, went to Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, yet another century earlier.
This episode is described with relish in Tabqat-i-Nasiri.
Few temples in India
have had the misfortune of having been desecrated four times. Being
a huge structure built in solid stone, it could survive enough to be restituted
as a mandir three times. The ASI has still to undo the damages by
Aurangzeb. The work of excavation stopped some seven years ago is
yet to be resumed. Admittedly, it is difficult to redeem the pristine
glory of Vijay Mandir whose scale and dimension are reminiscent of the
Konark temple. Nevertheless, it would be a shame if independent India
allows its architectural treasures to remain in a state of desecration
and burial without even an attempt to revive them.
It is all the more unfortunate
that the ASI is not being allowed to work on the site despite pressure
from the local citizens. No other temple turned mosque has witnessed
more repeated agitation and satyagraha than Vijay Mandir. The citizens
of Vidisha relate how year after year at every Eid time they used to offer
satyagraha and get arrested. Leaders who agitated way back some 50
years ago are still alive to narrate the saga of their efforts.
Octogenarian Niranjan
Verma, a former parliamentarian, remembers how Nehru found some reason
or the other not to meet the delegations led by him. Eventually,
he diverted Verma to see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who could not spare the
time to visit Vidisha but deputed Prof. Humayun Kabir, the then Education
Secretary. The professor was impartial and immediately conceded in
the presence of many a local citizen that it was indeed a temple.
However, at this late stage, since the matter would take a political colour,
as a bureaucrat, he could do little.
Verma and his supporters
also approached Dr Kailash Nath Katju when he became Chief Minister of
MP. The reply they got was that Verma and his men should first persuade
the Congressmen of Vidisha into agreeing that the Chief Minister may intervene
in Bijamandal. Not long after that, the delegation met the then Chief
Minister Mandloi who, incidentally, was sympathetic. His only problem
was the fear of Nehru's wrath, which he candidly admitted. As already
mentioned, Dr DP Mishra did bring a halt to namaz being conducted in the
edifice. His Government donated Rs 40,000 for the construction of
a separate idgaah nearby. By then Jawaharlal Nehru had been succeeded
by the not-antipathetic Lal Bahadur Shastri.
A visit to Vidisha and
interaction with the man in the street would reflect that there is a lingering,
although suppressed, resentment against the governmental treatment of what
they believe to be their dearest treasure, architectural as well as sentimental.
The moral of the visit would be that an open dialogue with all parties
concerned would be a far better alternative than attempts to hush up or
cover what is naked history.