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Ayodhya verdict: Ex-ASI director’s ‘work’ on disputed site may have proved crucial
LUCKNOW The documentation of the disputed structure by former director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Rakesh Tewari in 1990 may have played
LUCKNOW The documentation of the disputed structure by former director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Rakesh Tewari in 1990 may have played an important role in the November 9 judgment of the Supreme Court on the Ayodhya dispute.
In 1990, Tewari, the then director, state archaeological department, was directed by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court to carry out documentation, videography and radio carbon dating of the structure.
Both the parties accompanied him.Talking to HT, Tewari said he visited the spot with a team of archaeologists to document the structure and carried out videography too. The radio carbon dating of the structure was not possible, he said. The list of the documents and video was submitted to the court, he said.
“Black pillars and remains of the temple were found in the structure. An inscription in Arabic script was also found on the premises of the mosque,” he claimed.
“I visited the spot again when the state government acquired some area of the disputed site to document the items recovered from the spot. Again in 1992 when the disputed structure was demolished, he visited the spot for documenting the items recovered from the debris.
A list of the 263 items recovered from the spot was documented in the presence of the senior state government officers and submitted to the high court, he said.
During the hearing of the case in 2002, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court summoned Tewari to confirm about the items he had documented. The video of the structure was also seen by the judges. During the argument of the case, he said he confirmed that remains of the temple were found in the structure.
Tewari said in 2002 a team of the ASI led by BR Mani and Hari Manjhi had excavated the site in Ayodhya. The remains of 1200 BC were found from the spot. A temple made of brick as well as a pillared structure was also found. It was clear that mosque was not constructed over a barren land. Yet there was no direct evidence that mosque was constructed after demolishing a temple, he said.
Earlier when in 1975-78 an excavation was carried out by former ASI director general BB Lal, the remains of 600 BC were found from the spot.Then too pillars of an old structure and inscription were recovered from the site, he claimed.
The Supreme Court in its order had mentioned Tewari’s account in the Lucknow bench of the high court. Evidence was produced before the high court of the motifs on the pillars in the disputed building. Three sets of albums containing photographs taken by the state archaeological department pursuant to an order dated 10 January 1990 were produced by Dr Rakesh Tewari who verified the photographs.
The first album contained 204 coloured photographs and the second album contained 111 black and white photographs. The photographs contain depictions of the black Kasauti stone pillars and other features of the disputed structure.
