Timeline: Ayodhya Dispute
29 Sep 2010
With the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court set to pronounce verdict on the title suit of the Ram Janambhoomi/Babri Masjid dispute centred in Ayodhya we may take a look at the troubled history of the disputed holy site. The controversy goes back in time and is centred around claims from the Hindu community that a temple existed on the site that was demolished and a mosque built upon its foundations.
The claim is contested by the Muslim community.
1528: The Babri Mosque is built by Babar's general, Mir Baqi after destruction of an existing temple at the site as claimed by Hindus.
1500-1600: Composition of the epic 'Ramcharitamanas' by Goswami Tulsidas, and the ascendancy of Ram worship amongst Hindus as opposed to various other cults such as the 'Shaivas' and the 'Vaishnavas'.
1855: First recorded Hindu-Muslim clashes at the site after claims by Sunni leaders that the Hanumangarhi area around the mosque, occupied by a Rambhakta sect, was built on the remains of a mosque. The Sunni attackers are massacred by the 'Ramnandis', as the sect was called, and its leader killed.
A second assault the same year results in some more fighting and the beleaguered shia Nawab of Awadh summons help from British East India Company troops to help his State Forces to quell the disturbance. The leader of the second assault also killed.
