05-11-2006, 01:25 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->*A.S.I. and planned death of history*
*V SUNDARAM (6 May 2006)*
     Bijamandal Temple at Vidisha is one of massive dimensions comparable
with Konarak in Orissa. It was desecrated again and again since the days of
Sultan Shamsuddeen Iltutmish who first indulged in his iconoclasm at this
site. Then followed Allaudin Kilji. His record was bettered by Bahadur Shah
of Gujarat. Finally came Aurangazeb Alamgir a renowned champion of human
compassion and deathless humanity.
     During one night in the monsoon of 1991, there was heavy rain at a
small town called Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, 40 kilometres from Bopal. The
downpour was so heavy that it washed away the wall that was concealing the
frontage of the Bijamandal Mosque established by Aurangazeb in 1682. This
Masjid is a centre of attraction for the Muslims. The Muslim clerics called
it Alamgir Masjid. But for the common people of the area it was known as
Bijamandal Mosque.
     The broken and capsized wall following heavy rains in 1991,
completely exposed and brought to public light so many Hindu idols that the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was left with no pseudo-secular choice
for further concealment and consignment into oblivion.
     The fact to be noted is that for more than 300 years, these Hindu
idols were buried under the platform on the northern side, which was used as
the Hall of Prayer conducted especially on days of Eid. The District
Collector having control over this town in 1991, came forward to offer
protection to the Surveyors of the ASI, who were always exposed to the ever
present risk of violent wrath of bigots.
    Exquisitely beautiful treasures of sculpture were retrieved by the
ASI. Many of the statues were particularly splendid, with some of them being
as high as eight feet. But the patent fact which must be noted by all
enlightened citizens in India today is that the ASI within a month received
instructions to stop further work. The officer of the ASI working on the
excavations as well as the Collector were transferred. There was widespread
public belief in all the villages around Vidisa that this was done at the
behest of the then Human Resource Development Minister at the Centre Arjun
Singh, a deathless champion of 'secularism'.
     Is he not trying vigorously to re-write Indian History in order to
hide well-known facts relating to Islamic terrorism in India after 1000 AD?
     As a lover of history, I was reading a report of inspection of this
site by Sir Alexander Cunningham who was the first Director of the
Archaeological Survey of India established by Lord Canning, the Viceroy, in
1862. He visited this site in 1874 and 1876. This is what he wrote in Volume
X of the ASI Report*: "Inside the town there is a stone Masjid called Bijay
Mandir, or the temple of Bijay. This Hindu name is said to have been derived
from the original temple Bijay Rani. The temple was thrown down by the order
of Aurangazeb and the present Masjid erected in its place; but the Hindus
still frequent it at the time of the annual fair. By the Musalmans it is
called 'The Alamgiri Masjid', while Bhilsa (earlier name of Vidisha) itself
is called Alamgirpur. The building is 781/2 feet long by 261/2 feet broad
and the roof is supported on four rows of plain square pillars with 13
openings on front".*
*Desecrated remains of a Hindu temple*
*at the Bijamandal Mosque in Madhya Pradesh.*
     So much by way of non-saffron, non-communal documentary evidence in
favour of the Hindu origins of this famous Mosque in Vidisha. It was
Aurangazeb who destroyed the temple known as Bijay Mandir and converted it
into a Mosque called Bijay Mandal Mosque in 1682. Royal celebrations were
held at the site to commemorate the visit of Aurangazeb to the area and he
took the opportunity of renaming Vidisha as Alamgirpur.
     Though it had been known for a long time that Bijamandal was
originally a temple, namaz at Eid time continued right up to 1965. In 1965,
Dr. Dwaraka Prasad Misra was the Congress Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
It was his government which banned Muslim worship in what was a protected
ASI monument. It is not surprising that Dr Dwaraka Prasad Misra earned the
gratitude of most Vidishans and others in Madhya Pradesh. It was Dr D P
Misra who displayed the requisite moral courage of halting namaz in the
edifice. The Madhya Pradesh government gave a grant of Rs 40,000 for the
construction of a separate Idgaah nearby.
     About 150 years before Aurangazeb's wanton act of destruction of the
Bijamandal Temple at Vidisha, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, captured the
town of Vidisha in 1526-27. The first thing he did after capturing the town
was to desecrate the Bijay Mandir, proclaiming that the conquest of Bhilsa
(Vidisha) was in the service of Islam. This fact is recorded in
Mirat-I-Sikandri. About 200 years before him, another great humanist called
Sultan Allaudin Kilji in 1293 had also enjoyed the 'devout' and 'dedicated'
pleasure of damaging the Bijay Mandir. But the supreme credit of being the
Columbus of destruction of this temple in 1234 goes to Sultan Shamsuddeen
Iltutmish.
     Much of the factual information in this article is based on a
brilliant article called Four Vandals, one Temple by Gargi. To quote Gargi
in this context: *"Few temples have had the misfortune of getting desecrated
four times. Being a huge structure, built in solid stones, it was able to
survive and be restituted as a Mandir, three times. The ASI is still to undo
the damage perpetrated finally by Aurangazeb in 1682. Excavation work by ASI
which was stopped by Government of India in 1993-94 is yet to be resumed. It
is no doubt difficult to redeem the pristine glory of Bijay Mandir, whose
scale and dimensions are reminiscent of the Konarak Temple, but it would be
a shame if independent India allows its architectural treasures remain in a
state of desecration and buried without an attempt even to redeem them. It
is all the more unfortunate that the ASI is not being allowed to work on the
site despite pressure from local citizens".*
     The credit of having converted a neutral public service organization
like the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) into a slave of
Congress-sponsored historical negationism and anti-Hindu pseudo secularism
goes wholly to the Congress Party in India after independence. Let me
contrast the shameful record of the Congress Party in India after
independence in the matter of preservation of our cultural heritage and
ancient monuments with that of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India during 1899 to
1905. He took special interest in the Archaeological Department. It was he
who was responsible for the passing of the Ancient Monuments Preservation
Act in 1904.
     Lord Curzon is remembered for the care he gave to India's great
monuments, not only to the new ones celebrating the British Raj, but also
India's ancient heritage, many of which were in desperate need of
conservation. He showed great sensitivity and refinement in his appreciation
of Hindu and Muslim art. He was determined to ensure that the beauty of the
past should be preserved and those monuments of historical interest and
aesthetic value in India be restored and preserved. He brushed aside the
specious argument that it was not the duty of a Christian Government to
preserve the monuments of pagan art or the sanctuaries of an alien faith. He
believed that art and beauty and the reverence that was owing to all that
had evoked human genius or had inspired human faith, were independent of
particular creeds and insofar as it touched religion, were embraced and
united by the common religion of all mankind. Lord Curzon wrote emphatically
in this context*: "There is no principle of artistic discrimination between
the Mausoleum of the Muslim despot and the Sepulchre of the Christian or
Muslim Saint or a Hindu monument or temple. Whatever is beautiful, whatever
is historic and whatever that tears the mask off the face of the past and
helps mankind to read its riddles and not the dogmas of a primitively
combative theology these are the criteria by which a responsible Government
in India must be guided in its approach to preservation of monuments. I
cannot conceive of any obligation more strictly appertaining to a supreme
government than the conservation of the most beautiful and perfect
collection of monuments in the world, or one more likely to be scamped and
ignored by a delegation of authority to provincial administrations." *
     The conservation work done by the dedicated Officers and men of the
Archaeological Survey of India from 1862 to 1947 was indeed remarkable and
glorious. It could well be described as the golden age of Archaeology in
India. The British Officers and men of the ASI conducted their work with
complete objectivity. Regardless of whether it was a Hindu or a Muslim or a
Christian monument, their efforts to preserve were the same and their
description was always impartial. All these great traditions in the field of
preservation and conservation of ancient and timeless monuments were
destroyed by pseudo-secular men like Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and
Narasimha Rao with consummate skill and organized pseudo-secular
unscrupulousness. Today this great responsibility of destruction of our
cultural and spiritual heritage is being jointly shouldered by a Catholic
Christian & a Pseudo-secular PaganâI mean the immortal and indispensable
Sonia Gandhi and mortal and dispensable Arjun Singh!!
     To conclude in the beautiful words of Gargi: *"A visit to Vidisha
would enable any enlightened visitor to emotionally understand and
appreciate that there is a lingering below the surface resentment against
the Government treatment of what they believe to be their dearest treasure,
architectural as well as sentimental. The moral of a pilgrimage to Vidisha
is that no purpose would be served by hushing up what is a naked history." *
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivil...ssage/2155<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Four Vandals, One Temple
Gargi
Nov 2005Â
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 established by Aurangzeb in 1682. This masjid is a centre of attraction in the district town of Vidisha situated some 40 kms from Bhopal. The clerics called it Alamgiri masjid, but in common parlance it was called, "Bijamandal mosque". 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, the idols were buried under the platform, on the northern side, which was used as the hall of prayer conducted specially on days of Eid. Fortunately, the district collector in 1991 happened to offer protection to the surveyors of ASI, who were otherwise to expose themselves to the wrath of bigots.
Rich treasures of sculpture were thus salvaged. Some of the statues were particularly splendid; some were as high as 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 excavations as well as the collector were transferred.Whether it was done at the behest of the then Human Resource Development Minister at the centre, Shri Arjun Singh, 1991-1994, the well known Islamic lobbyst from Madhya Pradesh, is a matter of conjecture.
The great archaeologist, Sir Alexander Cunningham had personally visited Malwa during1874 AD and also in 1876. This is what he wrote in Volume X of the ASI Report: Inside the town there is a stone masjid called Bijay Mandir, or the temple of Bijay. This Hindu name is said to have been derived from the founder of the original temple, Bijay Rani. The temple was thrown down by the order of Aurangzeb, and the present masjid erected in its place; but the Hindus still frequent it at the time of the annual fair. By the Muhammadans it is called the Alamgiri masjid, while Bhilsa (earlier name of Vidisha) itself is called Alamgirpur. The building is 781/2 feet long by 261/2 feet broad and the roof is supported on four rows of plain square pillars with 13 openings to the front.
Aurangzeb, 1658-1707, was the last of the iconoclasts who 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, which clearly showed that Bijamandal was originally a temple, namaz at Eid time continued right upto 1965 when Dr. Dwarka Prasad Mishra's government banned Muslim worship in, what was a protected monument. Mishra earned the gratitute of most Vidishans and many others in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, 1526-37, was the iconoclast of Vidisha. He captured the town and the first thing he did was to desecrate the Vijay Mandir, claiming that the conquest of Bhilsa was in the service of Islam. The episode is recorded in Mirat-l-Sikandri. About 200 years before him,Sultan Alauddin Khilji, 1293, had also enjoyed the 'devout' pleasure of damaging Vijay Mandir. But the credit of being the first iconoclast, belongs to Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, 1234 AD, yet another half a century earlier. The episode is described with relish in Tabqat-e-Nasiri.
Few temples have had the misfortune of getting desecrated four times. Being a huge structure, built in solid stones, it was able to survive and be restituted as a mandir, three times. The ASI is still to undo the damage perperated by Aurangzeb. Excavation work which stopped in 1993-94 is yet to be resumed. It is, no doubt, difficult to redeem the pristine glory of Vijay Mandir, whose scale and dimensions are reminiscent of the Konark temple, but it would be a shame if Independent India allows its architectural treasures to remain in a state of desecration and buried without an attempt to even redeem them.
It is all the more unfortunate that the ASI is not being allowed to work on the site despite pressure from local citizens. No other temple turned mosque has witnessed more repeate dagitations and satyagraha than Vijay Mandir. The citizens of Vidisha relate how, year after year, at Eid time they used to offer satyagraha and get arrested.
Octogenarin Niranjan Verma, a former Parliamentarian, narrated how Jawaharlal Nehru found some or the other excuse not to meet his delegation. Eventually, Nehru diverted Verma to see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who deputed Prof. Humayun Kabir, the then Education Secretary. The professor was impartial and immediately conceded that it was a Hindu temple.
However, being a bureaucrat, he could not do anything more, because of political repercussions.
Verma and his supporters approached Dr. Kailash Nath Katju, when he became the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. It bore no fruit. Thereafter, they met the next Cheif Minister Mandloi. He showed his sympathy, but expressed his fear of Nehru's wrath. As already mentioned, Dr.D.P. Mishra took the courage of halting namaz in the edifice. The Madhya Pradesh government donated Rs. 40,000 for the construction of a separate idgaah nearby. By the time, Jawaharlal Nehru had been succeeded by a realistic personality of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
A Visit to Vidisha would reflect that there is a lingering resentment against the government treatment of what they believe to be their dearest treasure, architechtural as well as sentimental. The moral of a pilgrimage to Vidisha is that no purpose would be served by hushing up what is a naked history.
http://www.greenmindz.com/js/jsart.aspx?stid=61<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
*V SUNDARAM (6 May 2006)*
     Bijamandal Temple at Vidisha is one of massive dimensions comparable
with Konarak in Orissa. It was desecrated again and again since the days of
Sultan Shamsuddeen Iltutmish who first indulged in his iconoclasm at this
site. Then followed Allaudin Kilji. His record was bettered by Bahadur Shah
of Gujarat. Finally came Aurangazeb Alamgir a renowned champion of human
compassion and deathless humanity.
     During one night in the monsoon of 1991, there was heavy rain at a
small town called Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, 40 kilometres from Bopal. The
downpour was so heavy that it washed away the wall that was concealing the
frontage of the Bijamandal Mosque established by Aurangazeb in 1682. This
Masjid is a centre of attraction for the Muslims. The Muslim clerics called
it Alamgir Masjid. But for the common people of the area it was known as
Bijamandal Mosque.
     The broken and capsized wall following heavy rains in 1991,
completely exposed and brought to public light so many Hindu idols that the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was left with no pseudo-secular choice
for further concealment and consignment into oblivion.
     The fact to be noted is that for more than 300 years, these Hindu
idols were buried under the platform on the northern side, which was used as
the Hall of Prayer conducted especially on days of Eid. The District
Collector having control over this town in 1991, came forward to offer
protection to the Surveyors of the ASI, who were always exposed to the ever
present risk of violent wrath of bigots.
    Exquisitely beautiful treasures of sculpture were retrieved by the
ASI. Many of the statues were particularly splendid, with some of them being
as high as eight feet. But the patent fact which must be noted by all
enlightened citizens in India today is that the ASI within a month received
instructions to stop further work. The officer of the ASI working on the
excavations as well as the Collector were transferred. There was widespread
public belief in all the villages around Vidisa that this was done at the
behest of the then Human Resource Development Minister at the Centre Arjun
Singh, a deathless champion of 'secularism'.
     Is he not trying vigorously to re-write Indian History in order to
hide well-known facts relating to Islamic terrorism in India after 1000 AD?
     As a lover of history, I was reading a report of inspection of this
site by Sir Alexander Cunningham who was the first Director of the
Archaeological Survey of India established by Lord Canning, the Viceroy, in
1862. He visited this site in 1874 and 1876. This is what he wrote in Volume
X of the ASI Report*: "Inside the town there is a stone Masjid called Bijay
Mandir, or the temple of Bijay. This Hindu name is said to have been derived
from the original temple Bijay Rani. The temple was thrown down by the order
of Aurangazeb and the present Masjid erected in its place; but the Hindus
still frequent it at the time of the annual fair. By the Musalmans it is
called 'The Alamgiri Masjid', while Bhilsa (earlier name of Vidisha) itself
is called Alamgirpur. The building is 781/2 feet long by 261/2 feet broad
and the roof is supported on four rows of plain square pillars with 13
openings on front".*
*Desecrated remains of a Hindu temple*
*at the Bijamandal Mosque in Madhya Pradesh.*
     So much by way of non-saffron, non-communal documentary evidence in
favour of the Hindu origins of this famous Mosque in Vidisha. It was
Aurangazeb who destroyed the temple known as Bijay Mandir and converted it
into a Mosque called Bijay Mandal Mosque in 1682. Royal celebrations were
held at the site to commemorate the visit of Aurangazeb to the area and he
took the opportunity of renaming Vidisha as Alamgirpur.
     Though it had been known for a long time that Bijamandal was
originally a temple, namaz at Eid time continued right up to 1965. In 1965,
Dr. Dwaraka Prasad Misra was the Congress Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
It was his government which banned Muslim worship in what was a protected
ASI monument. It is not surprising that Dr Dwaraka Prasad Misra earned the
gratitude of most Vidishans and others in Madhya Pradesh. It was Dr D P
Misra who displayed the requisite moral courage of halting namaz in the
edifice. The Madhya Pradesh government gave a grant of Rs 40,000 for the
construction of a separate Idgaah nearby.
     About 150 years before Aurangazeb's wanton act of destruction of the
Bijamandal Temple at Vidisha, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, captured the
town of Vidisha in 1526-27. The first thing he did after capturing the town
was to desecrate the Bijay Mandir, proclaiming that the conquest of Bhilsa
(Vidisha) was in the service of Islam. This fact is recorded in
Mirat-I-Sikandri. About 200 years before him, another great humanist called
Sultan Allaudin Kilji in 1293 had also enjoyed the 'devout' and 'dedicated'
pleasure of damaging the Bijay Mandir. But the supreme credit of being the
Columbus of destruction of this temple in 1234 goes to Sultan Shamsuddeen
Iltutmish.
     Much of the factual information in this article is based on a
brilliant article called Four Vandals, one Temple by Gargi. To quote Gargi
in this context: *"Few temples have had the misfortune of getting desecrated
four times. Being a huge structure, built in solid stones, it was able to
survive and be restituted as a Mandir, three times. The ASI is still to undo
the damage perpetrated finally by Aurangazeb in 1682. Excavation work by ASI
which was stopped by Government of India in 1993-94 is yet to be resumed. It
is no doubt difficult to redeem the pristine glory of Bijay Mandir, whose
scale and dimensions are reminiscent of the Konarak Temple, but it would be
a shame if independent India allows its architectural treasures remain in a
state of desecration and buried without an attempt even to redeem them. It
is all the more unfortunate that the ASI is not being allowed to work on the
site despite pressure from local citizens".*
     The credit of having converted a neutral public service organization
like the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) into a slave of
Congress-sponsored historical negationism and anti-Hindu pseudo secularism
goes wholly to the Congress Party in India after independence. Let me
contrast the shameful record of the Congress Party in India after
independence in the matter of preservation of our cultural heritage and
ancient monuments with that of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India during 1899 to
1905. He took special interest in the Archaeological Department. It was he
who was responsible for the passing of the Ancient Monuments Preservation
Act in 1904.
     Lord Curzon is remembered for the care he gave to India's great
monuments, not only to the new ones celebrating the British Raj, but also
India's ancient heritage, many of which were in desperate need of
conservation. He showed great sensitivity and refinement in his appreciation
of Hindu and Muslim art. He was determined to ensure that the beauty of the
past should be preserved and those monuments of historical interest and
aesthetic value in India be restored and preserved. He brushed aside the
specious argument that it was not the duty of a Christian Government to
preserve the monuments of pagan art or the sanctuaries of an alien faith. He
believed that art and beauty and the reverence that was owing to all that
had evoked human genius or had inspired human faith, were independent of
particular creeds and insofar as it touched religion, were embraced and
united by the common religion of all mankind. Lord Curzon wrote emphatically
in this context*: "There is no principle of artistic discrimination between
the Mausoleum of the Muslim despot and the Sepulchre of the Christian or
Muslim Saint or a Hindu monument or temple. Whatever is beautiful, whatever
is historic and whatever that tears the mask off the face of the past and
helps mankind to read its riddles and not the dogmas of a primitively
combative theology these are the criteria by which a responsible Government
in India must be guided in its approach to preservation of monuments. I
cannot conceive of any obligation more strictly appertaining to a supreme
government than the conservation of the most beautiful and perfect
collection of monuments in the world, or one more likely to be scamped and
ignored by a delegation of authority to provincial administrations." *
     The conservation work done by the dedicated Officers and men of the
Archaeological Survey of India from 1862 to 1947 was indeed remarkable and
glorious. It could well be described as the golden age of Archaeology in
India. The British Officers and men of the ASI conducted their work with
complete objectivity. Regardless of whether it was a Hindu or a Muslim or a
Christian monument, their efforts to preserve were the same and their
description was always impartial. All these great traditions in the field of
preservation and conservation of ancient and timeless monuments were
destroyed by pseudo-secular men like Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and
Narasimha Rao with consummate skill and organized pseudo-secular
unscrupulousness. Today this great responsibility of destruction of our
cultural and spiritual heritage is being jointly shouldered by a Catholic
Christian & a Pseudo-secular PaganâI mean the immortal and indispensable
Sonia Gandhi and mortal and dispensable Arjun Singh!!
     To conclude in the beautiful words of Gargi: *"A visit to Vidisha
would enable any enlightened visitor to emotionally understand and
appreciate that there is a lingering below the surface resentment against
the Government treatment of what they believe to be their dearest treasure,
architectural as well as sentimental. The moral of a pilgrimage to Vidisha
is that no purpose would be served by hushing up what is a naked history." *
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivil...ssage/2155<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Four Vandals, One Temple
Gargi
Nov 2005Â
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 established by Aurangzeb in 1682. This masjid is a centre of attraction in the district town of Vidisha situated some 40 kms from Bhopal. The clerics called it Alamgiri masjid, but in common parlance it was called, "Bijamandal mosque". 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, the idols were buried under the platform, on the northern side, which was used as the hall of prayer conducted specially on days of Eid. Fortunately, the district collector in 1991 happened to offer protection to the surveyors of ASI, who were otherwise to expose themselves to the wrath of bigots.
Rich treasures of sculpture were thus salvaged. Some of the statues were particularly splendid; some were as high as 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 excavations as well as the collector were transferred.Whether it was done at the behest of the then Human Resource Development Minister at the centre, Shri Arjun Singh, 1991-1994, the well known Islamic lobbyst from Madhya Pradesh, is a matter of conjecture.
The great archaeologist, Sir Alexander Cunningham had personally visited Malwa during1874 AD and also in 1876. This is what he wrote in Volume X of the ASI Report: Inside the town there is a stone masjid called Bijay Mandir, or the temple of Bijay. This Hindu name is said to have been derived from the founder of the original temple, Bijay Rani. The temple was thrown down by the order of Aurangzeb, and the present masjid erected in its place; but the Hindus still frequent it at the time of the annual fair. By the Muhammadans it is called the Alamgiri masjid, while Bhilsa (earlier name of Vidisha) itself is called Alamgirpur. The building is 781/2 feet long by 261/2 feet broad and the roof is supported on four rows of plain square pillars with 13 openings to the front.
Aurangzeb, 1658-1707, was the last of the iconoclasts who 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, which clearly showed that Bijamandal was originally a temple, namaz at Eid time continued right upto 1965 when Dr. Dwarka Prasad Mishra's government banned Muslim worship in, what was a protected monument. Mishra earned the gratitute of most Vidishans and many others in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, 1526-37, was the iconoclast of Vidisha. He captured the town and the first thing he did was to desecrate the Vijay Mandir, claiming that the conquest of Bhilsa was in the service of Islam. The episode is recorded in Mirat-l-Sikandri. About 200 years before him,Sultan Alauddin Khilji, 1293, had also enjoyed the 'devout' pleasure of damaging Vijay Mandir. But the credit of being the first iconoclast, belongs to Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, 1234 AD, yet another half a century earlier. The episode is described with relish in Tabqat-e-Nasiri.
Few temples have had the misfortune of getting desecrated four times. Being a huge structure, built in solid stones, it was able to survive and be restituted as a mandir, three times. The ASI is still to undo the damage perperated by Aurangzeb. Excavation work which stopped in 1993-94 is yet to be resumed. It is, no doubt, difficult to redeem the pristine glory of Vijay Mandir, whose scale and dimensions are reminiscent of the Konark temple, but it would be a shame if Independent India allows its architectural treasures to remain in a state of desecration and buried without an attempt to even redeem them.
It is all the more unfortunate that the ASI is not being allowed to work on the site despite pressure from local citizens. No other temple turned mosque has witnessed more repeate dagitations and satyagraha than Vijay Mandir. The citizens of Vidisha relate how, year after year, at Eid time they used to offer satyagraha and get arrested.
Octogenarin Niranjan Verma, a former Parliamentarian, narrated how Jawaharlal Nehru found some or the other excuse not to meet his delegation. Eventually, Nehru diverted Verma to see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who deputed Prof. Humayun Kabir, the then Education Secretary. The professor was impartial and immediately conceded that it was a Hindu temple.
However, being a bureaucrat, he could not do anything more, because of political repercussions.
Verma and his supporters approached Dr. Kailash Nath Katju, when he became the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. It bore no fruit. Thereafter, they met the next Cheif Minister Mandloi. He showed his sympathy, but expressed his fear of Nehru's wrath. As already mentioned, Dr.D.P. Mishra took the courage of halting namaz in the edifice. The Madhya Pradesh government donated Rs. 40,000 for the construction of a separate idgaah nearby. By the time, Jawaharlal Nehru had been succeeded by a realistic personality of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
A Visit to Vidisha would reflect that there is a lingering resentment against the government treatment of what they believe to be their dearest treasure, architechtural as well as sentimental. The moral of a pilgrimage to Vidisha is that no purpose would be served by hushing up what is a naked history.
http://www.greenmindz.com/js/jsart.aspx?stid=61<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->