What was found

For those who hadn't noticed anything wrong in the reports of 11 June claiming that nothing had been found, another news item on the same day should have alerted them.  The party most likely to be elated over the non-finding of traces of a temple should be the Muslim pro-Masjid lobby groups, such as the Sunni Central Waqf Board.  And yet: "ASI fabricating evidence in Ayodhya, says Waqf Board" (The Hindu, 11 June 2003).  Or in a full sentence: "The Sunni Central Waqf Board, a plaintiff in the Ramjanmabhoomi Babri Masjid title suit, and some Muslim parties have accused the ASI team carrying out excavation work at the acquired land in Ayodhya of 'fabricating' archaeological evidence there."  So, according to this witness above suspicion, the ASI team clearly did find evidence, only it wasn't supportive of pro-mosque and anti-temple claims and therefore had to be dismissed as "fabricated".

All the papers carried this news, citing the Board's counsel, Mr. Zafaryab Jilani: "ASI fabricating evidence in Ayodhya: Waqf board" (Press Trust of India, 10 June); "ASI fabricating evidence: Waqf Board" (Times of India, 11 June); "Foul play alleged at Ayodhya dig" (The Pioneer, 11 June).  In the free-for-all of Indian secularism, we needn't fuss over the fact that this grim allegation against the integrity of highly qualified scientists was levelled without any evidence.  The decisive point is that, against the secularist claims and against their own interest, the Muslim plaintiffs admitted that the ASI excavators have not come up from their trenches empty-handed.

Whereas some Indian papers threw themselves headlong into the mendacious operation of denying the ASI findings, others did set the record straight, or at least gave space to guest authors to do so.  As no one in his journalistic hurry seems to have tried to summarize the whole of the report, and everyone was satisfied with bits and pieces if at all they had seen the report, the numbers of finds differ according to the source.  According to the Press Trust of India (11 June), "eight articles were found in excavation work in nine trenches on the acquired land around [the] makeshift temple".  Most helpfully, this source adds the communal detail: "There were 131 labourers including 29 Muslims engaged in the digging work today".  The internet version of The Hindu, www.hinduonnet.com (22 June), mentions "structural anomalies in 46 trenches" of the 84 trenches investigated, as well as "pillar bases and drains in some of the trenches".

In Outlook India (23 June), Sandipan Deb gave a more detailed overview of the report: "While most papers covering the new ASI report last week said that it claims there was no structure under the Babri Masjid, what the report actually says is that of the 30 recent trenches, the team has found man-made structures in eight, and none in 16.  In five, they couldn't decide due to 'structural activities in the upper levels' (mainly the plinth of the Babri Masjid).  One trench they did not survey.  Among the structures listed in the report are several brick walls 'in east-west orientation', several 'in north-south orientation', 'decorated coloured floor', several 'pillar bases', and a '1.64-metre high decorated black stone pillar (broken) with yaksha figurines on four corners'.  Now that I am sounding like a 'running-dog of the VHP' to the 'lunatic lefties', let me quickly add that they also found 'Arabic inscription of holy verses on stone'.  But what many people have missed out on - due to bias or sloth - is that these are findings only from the period of May 22 to June 6.  This is not the full list.  If they read the earlier reports, they would also find listed several walls, a staircase, and two black basalt columns 'bearing fine decorative carvings with two cross-legged figures in bas-relief on a bloomed lotus with a peacock whose feathers are raised upwards'."

For good measure, we should also quote a Hindu nationalist's observations.   On the website of the National Volunteer Corps or RSS (www.rss.org, 24 June 2003), Chetan Merani writes: "The excavations so far give ample traces that there was a mammoth pre-existing structure beneath the three-domed Babri structure.  Ancient perimeters from East to West and North to South have been found beneath the Babri fabrication.  The bricks used in these perimeters predate the time of Babar.  Beautiful stone pieces bearing carved Hindu ornamentations like lotus, kaustubh jewel, alligator facade, etc., have been used in these walls.  These decorated architectural pieces have been anchored with precision at varied places in the walls.  A tiny portion of a stone slab is sticking out at a place below 20 feet in one of the pits.  The rest of the slab lies covered in the wall.  The projecting portion bears a five-letter Dev Nagari inscription that turns out to be a Hindu name.  The items found below 20 feet should be at least 1,500 years old.  According to archaeologists about a foot of loam layer gathers on topsoil every hundred years.  Primary clay was not found even up to a depth of 30 feet.  It provides the clue to the existence of some structure or the other at that place during the last 2,500 years.  More than 30 pillar bases have been found at equal spans.  The pillar-bases are in two rows and the rows are parallel.  The pillar-base rows are in North-South direction.  A wall is superimposed upon another wall.  At least three layers of the floor are visible.  An octagonal holy fireplace (yajna kund) has been found.  These facts prove the enormity of the pre-existing structure.  (*) Moulded bricks of round and other shapes and sizes were neither in vogue during the middle ages nor are in use today.  It was in vogue only 2,000 years ago.  Many ornate pieces of touchstone (kasauti stone) pillars have been found in the excavation.  Terracotta idols of divine figurines, serpent, elephant, horse-rider, saints, etc., have been found.  Even to this day terracotta idols are used in worship during Diwali celebrations and then put by temple sanctums for invoking divine blessings.  The Gupta and the Kushan period bricks have been found.  Brick walls of the Gahadwal period (12th Century CE) have been found in excavations.  Nothing has been found to prove the existence of residential habitation there.  The excavation gives out the picture of a vast compound housing a sole distinguished and greatly celebrated structure used for divine purposes (*)."