The frivolous petition brought by Vishnu Gupta asserting that there was a Sankat Mochan Mahadev temple within the premises of the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti cites Har Bilas Sarda’s 1911 published book Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive. A close reading of the book reveals that Sarda’s observations are purely conjectural and based on hearsay and assumptions. He doesn’t offer any textual evidence to support his claims.
In his chapter on the dargah, Sarda comments on the supposed ‘Hindu’ elements of the Buland Darwaza of the complex. He writes:
“Towards the north this gate is supported on either side by three-stories chatrees of carved stone, the spoils of some Hindu building. The materials and the style of these chatrees plainly betray their Hindu origin. Their excellent surface carving is unfortunately hidden from view by coats of colour and whitewashing, which should be removed. It is also stated that these chatrees and the gate-which is of red sandstone (raised higher and arches by Musalmans) with the eastern cell continuation of it-formed part of an old Jain temple, which was demolished.” (pp.93-94).
There is no mention of a Hindu temple being demolished. The recycling of materials from older buildings was quite common in the medieval era and there is no evidence that the chatrees were part of a demolished building. Where is it stated that eastern cell was part of a demolished Jain temple? Sarda doesn’t offer any clues.
The second instance where he mentions Hindu buildings is based on hearsay without offering any evidence. As a matter fact Sarda himself appears to be unsure and has himself put a question mark in brackets next to the word ‘temples’ in the paragraph.
“The courtyard between the Buland Darwaza and the inner courtyard covers underneath it, cellars of old Hindu buildings (temples?), of which many rooms remain intact. In fact, the whole of Dargah appears to have been built as was usual in the times of the early Musssalman rulers, on the sites of old temples, partly by converting and partly by adding to the structures already existing.” (p.96)
Sarda doesn’t provide any evidence of what temple existed, who it was dedicated to or when it was built? Was it one temple or a complex of temples?
He further makes a fantastic claim about the supposed existence of the image of Mahadeva in the cellar-once again based on hearsay:
“Tradition says that inside the cellar is the image of Mahadeva in a temple, on which sandal used to be placed everyday by a Brahman family still maintained by the Dargah as gharhyali (bell striker).”
If this was true then the position of a Brahmin garhyali must have been mentioned in some text, document, history of the dargah. The non-existence of such evidence, in either Muslim or Hindu sources, further exposes the spuriousness of this claim.
If hearsay and conjecture are to be taken as evidence, then somebody might rise tomorrow and claim that a sacrificial altar stood at the site during Vedic times to the one supreme deity. One digs deep enough at any human settlement in India, one is bound to find some evidence of a sacrificial altar. What would happen if someone based on ‘tradition’ demands digging of other religious sites? Will the sites be restored to the one Supreme Deity? There will be no end to this.
The petition should have been thrown out by any court of law at the first instance, but this is the age of Saffron characterized by manufactured majoritarian anger, hurt feelings and so-called correction of imagined ‘historical wrongs.’ These attempts fit in well with the supremacist agenda.
The fact that Har Bilas Sarda was a member of the Arya Samaj and a prominent figure in the Hindu Mahasabha in Rajputana, dedicated the book to Sir Elliot Graham Colvin, Agent to the Governor General of Rajputana, exposes his intent and agenda. He also includes a full page to a portrait of ‘Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of India.’ Sarda writes that he wrote this book at the urging of British officials to mark the Imperial Coronation Durbar at Delhi and to serve a guidebook for ‘personages of distinction from Europe’ who might visit Ajmer. It was not meant to be a book of historical reference.
Har Bilas Sarda was not a trained historian, and his book demonstrates that he was not well versed in Persian and couldn’t directly handle primary sources. He relies on British translations of Persian texts, confuses names, and leaves Persian quotations untranslated.
He was more famous for the reformist ‘Sarda Act’ prohibiting child marriage which came into operation in 1929. Apart from this he spent most of his time propagating the supremacy of Hinduism, the Arya Samaj version of it, over all others. His unabashed utterings in ‘Hindu Superiority’, published in 1906, is reflective of a supremacist mindset.
To admit tracts such as ‘Ajmer: Historical and Descriptive’ as ‘historical evidence’ is an insult to historiography and academic research. Reining in the spurious petitions is necessary. Failure to do so would result in endless litigation in the Indian legal system which is already overburdened to the point of disaster.
Finally, it appears the petitioner has not read the book in its entirety and is also probably handicapped in his comprehension of the English language. Sarda, despite his reliance on conjecture and hearsay, admiringly writes of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at several places in the book. Here is a sampling:
‘Khwaja Moinuddin lived a life of piety.’ (p.90)
‘He never preached aggression, was a man of peace and good-will towards all God’s creatures.’ (p.91)
These were the teachings which attracted people of all faiths to Khwaja Sahab. These included Santoji, the Maratha Subedar of Ajmer, who ‘laid out a garden outside Madar Gate, called it the Chishti Chaman and presented it to the Dargah.’ (p.33)
Can those who cite Sarda at least aim to follow the path of non-aggression, peace, and good-will towards all and avoid turning India into a nation of endless litigation and communal conflagration?
Ajmer has always been known for its Dargah as this line, cited by Sarda, states:
“Ajmera ke ma’ani char cheez sarnam
Khwaja Sahab ki dargah kahiye
Pushkar ka asna
Makrana ke patthar nikley
Sambhar luura ki kaan
“Four things are famous in territory of Ajmer:
- Khwaja Sahab ki Dargah
- Pushkar Lake
- Makrana Marble
- Sambhar salt mine” (p.20)
Let Ajmer be Ajmer.
Ayub Khan is a researcher of South Asia based in Toronto, Canada.
