Explained: The Gyanvapi Mosque case

Master director Satyajit Ray loved Varanasi. He shot two of his films "Aparajito" and "Joi Baba Felunath" in the city – bringing to the audience the old world charm of the ghats of the Ganges and its blind alleys. The same city is now in the news for an entirely different reason.

The Gyanvapi Mosque, adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in India's Varanasi city, currently faces a legal battle. The two are not just places of worship but the biggest landmarks of the city located on the bank of the Ganges.

The Gyanvapi (name said to have derived from an adjacent well called "Well of Knowledge") Mosque was believed to have been constructed during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1669. But was a temple destroyed to build the mosque?

A legal dispute that began three decades ago has now become an issue that threatens to be polarising.

Five Delhi-based women moved a court in Varanasi with their plea on April 18 last year, seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols of Hindu deities on the outer walls of Gyanvapi Mosque. They also sought to stop the opponents from causing any damage to the idols. The site is at present open to prayers by Hindus once a year – on the fourth day of the Navaratri in April.

The court recently directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to probe the structure of the Gyanvapi Mosque. The court-mandated videography survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex was completed a couple of days ago amidst controversy, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

A lawyer of the Hindu side claimed a Shiva linga was found inside the well. An advocate, Madan Mohan Yadav, claimed that the Shiva linga is "Nandi (bull) faced."

Gyanvapi, the original well between the mosque and the temple. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

It is believed that an old sculpture of Nandi, carrier of Lord Shiva, inside the compound of the Vishwanath Temple faces the wall of the Gyanvapi Mosque instead of the temple's sanctum sanctorum. The belief is that Nandi is actually facing the old Visheshwar temple which was allegedly destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

The Hindu side says that to prove the existence of the idol of Shringar Gauri, one has to go inside the Gyanvapi Mosque. This is the reason why the survey team is attempting to enter the mosque premises to inspect and take video records.

On the other hand, the Gyanvapi Mosque management committee, "Anjuman Intezamiya Masjid", says that the idol of Shringar Gauri is outside, on the western wall of the mosque. Moreover, they claim the court did not pass any orders allowing videography inside the mosque but only till the courtyard outside the barricading.

The Varanasi court had ordered the inspection of the site in question in April but the exercise had to be halted following allegations of bias against the official in charge.

The Varanasi court order for the videography survey was challenged by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee before the Allahabad High Court. But the high court upheld the lower court order leading to the filing of a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court.

On May 17, the apex (Supreme) court ordered the Varanasi district magistrate to seal off the "wazu khana" (ablution pond) area within the Gyanvapi Mosque but allowed Muslims unfettered access to the mosque for offering namaz.

The present Vishwanath Temple was built in the 18th century by Rani Ahalyabai Holkar of Indore to the south of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

Claims to the Gyanvapi Mosque are, however, nothing new. It has been there from time to time. In fact, radical Hindu outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad agenda was not confined to just the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya but also to Kashi (another name of Varanasi) Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque and Sri Krishna Janambhoomi in Mathura.