Key Takeaways
- The Gyanvapi site in Varanasi may have been a large Hindu temple before the construction of the existing mosque.
- The ASI survey report confirms that the existing structure of the mosque uses the pillars of a previous Hindu Mandir.
- The pre-existing structure at the Gyanvapi site was a large Hindu temple, according to the ASI report.
On Thursday, January 25, just three days after the historic Pran Pratishtha of Prabhu Shri Ram at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), made public, its 839-page report on the disputed Gyanvapi site in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
While reading the ASI survey report, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, counsel for the Hindu side, said that the existing structure of the mosque uses the pillars of the previous structure, a Hindu Mandir, on which the mosque was constructed, during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Jain told reporters, ‘All the objects which were discovered were documented. No damages were caused to the structure. Based on scientific study, there is use of pillars of previous structure in the existing structure. The pre-existing structure was there.’
‘It can be said that there existed a large Hindu temple, prior to the construction of the existing structure.’, the ASI report concluded.
It was on Wednesday, January 24, that a Varanasi court had asked the ASI report to be made public and provided to both sides of the case.
