Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura

19.12.2023

Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Why in the news?

Recently, the Supreme Court refused to stay the order issued by the Allahabad High Court that had allowed the survey of the Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Mathura a day earlier. The Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura was built on the Krishna Janmasthan, where Lord Krishna was born.

Important points:

• The mosque was built in the 17th century during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
• In 1815, the British East India Company auctioned 13.37 acres of land at the Katra Keshavdev site to Raja Patnimal, a wealthy banker from Varanasi.
• In 1944, he sold the land to industrialist Jugal Kishore Birla, who in 1951 formed the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust to facilitate the construction of a temple at that site.
• It is this piece of land that is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, with the Hindu side claiming it includes the Shahi Idgah Mosque, while the Muslim side says it does not.
• Temple construction work began in 1953, and was completed in 1983.

History of Mathura (Krishna's birthplace):

• Located in the heart of Braj, on the banks of the Yamuna, Mathura assumed importance as a trading and administrative center during the time of the Mauryas (4th to 2nd century BCE).
• Historian A. W. Entwistle postulates that the first Vaishnava temple at the Krishna birthplace site was probably built in the 1st century AD.
• Another grand temple was built during the reign of Chandragupta II, also known as Vikramaditya, around 400 BCE. Was done in.
• Chinese pilgrims Hiuen Tsang and - Mathura was also a major center of Buddhism and Jainism with many stupas and monasteries.
• Even later Muslim historians have described stupas and monasteries in Mathura.
• Alexander Cunningham (1814–93), the first archaeologist of British India and the founding Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), believed that the site originally had Buddhist structures that had been destroyed, and some of the material used for construction.

Attack on temples:

• The ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire invaded India in the early 11th century and attacked Mathura.
• According to the account of historian Mahomed Qasim Firishta (1570–1620), in 1017 or 1018 AD, Mahmud came to Mathura and there was burning and looting for about 20 days.
• Devotees of Krishna, whom al-Biruni called Vasudeva, remained steadfast in their faith and made Mathura a major pilgrimage site.
• Katra Keshadev Temple: Around 1150 BC. A Sanskrit inscription of 125 BC records the foundation of a Vishnu temple at the site where the Katra Kesavadeva temple now stands. The inscription states that this temple of Krishna's birthplace was "brilliantly white and touching the clouds".
• The Keshavdev temple located at the Krishna birthplace site in Mathura was demolished along with many other Buddhist temples by Sikandar Lodhi, ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the 16th century.

Construction of Shahi Idgah Mosque:

• Shah Jahan's successor Dara was declared an apostate and assassinated in 1659 by Aurangzeb, who had by then seized power.
• Aurangzeb was a strict, ascetic and devout Muslim, the complete opposite of Dara in religious personality.
• In 1660, Aurangzeb appointed Abdul Nabi Khan, who was extremely unpopular among the empire's Hindu subjects, as the governor of Mathura.
• In 1661–62, Khan built the Jama Masjid on the site of the temple which was destroyed by Sikandar Lodhi.
• In 1666 he destroyed the railing built by Dara Shikoh around the Keshavdev temple.
• In 1670, he specifically ordered the destruction of the Keshavdev temple of Mathura, and sponsored the construction of the Shahi Idgah in its place

Revival of Mathura temples:

• The defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty.
• Due to the weakening of the Mughals' hold on power under Babur and Humayun in the early decades, as well as the above-mentioned religious movements, there was a surge in religious activities in Braj.
• Although no major temples were built, mainly due to economic reasons and the absence of rich royal patrons, several small temples of Lord Krishna were built in Mathura and nearby Vrindavan.
• Conditions improved further during the long reign of Akbar (1556–1605).
• Historians Tarapada Mukherjee and Irfan Habib (among others) have written about several land and revenue grants that the emperor made to temples of various Vaishnava sects in Mathura.
• In 1618, during the reign of Akbar's son Jahangir, a grand temple was built at the Katra site in Mathura by Raja Veer Singh Deo, the Rajput ruler of Orchha Kingdom, a vassal state of the Mughal Empire.
• This temple, described by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French traveler who visited Mathura in 1650, was octagonal in shape and built of red sandstone.
• The Venetian traveler Niccolo Manucci, who visited Mathura in the late 1650s, wrote that the temple was "of such height that its gilded spire could be seen from Agra".
• Jahangir's grandson and Shah Jahan's eldest son Dara Shikoh, a great proponent of religious co-existence in the empire, ordered the restoration of the site, which included the installation of a stone railing around it.

Allahabad High Court's decision in Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi case:

• The court ordered a scientific survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque, which is believed to be built at the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
• The Hindu parties in the lawsuit claim that the 17th century Mughal-era mosque was built after the demolition of a temple at the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
• The Muslim side claims that the Shahi Idgah Mosque Katra does not fall within the scope of Keshav Dev's land.
• He countered that the Hindu's belief is based on conjecture and is not confirmed by any documentary evidence.

The Supreme Court refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order allowing survey of the Mathura Shahi Idgah complex near Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple.