Inside basement of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex. See exclusive pics
India Today
See exclusive images of the inside basement of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex.
After the Gyanvapi mosque survey concluded, a lawyer in the case claimed that a shivling was found inside a wazukhana or reservoir in the mosque complex. However, the mosque committee dismissed the claim and said that what was being claimed as a shivling, was actually a fountain.
Aaj Tak/India Today TV have now got exclusive access to the images from the basement of the Gyanvapi-Gauri Shringar complex.
The images are from a room in the basement that was surveyed by the court.
A samithi conducts Ramcharitmanas recitation every year in the Gyanvapi complex and bamboo tents and other items used during the event are kept in this room, inside the basement.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed the District Magistrate of Varanasi to ensure protection of the area inside the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri complex where a 'shivling' was said to be found. However, this must be done without affecting the right of Muslims to offer prayer at the mosque.
A petition filed in 1991 in a Varanasi court claimed that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built on the orders of Aurangzeb by demolishing a part of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple during his reign in the 16th century.
The petitioners and local priests sought permission to worship in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. The Allahabad High Court in 2019 ordered a stay on an ASI survey that was requested by the petitioners.
