In a major archaeological finding, carvings on sandstone, Shiv Ling and pillars were excavated during the land levelling work at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.
Making the announcement, Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trust, said, “discovered pillars in the debris of the structure and carvings on sandstone. Found a Shivling there and a similar one at Kuber Teela.”
The debris is being removed and land being levelled at Ram Janmabhoomi from the past 10 days after due permission from district authorities.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) has also said that ever since the first phase of construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya started on May 11 many objects have been discovered during excavation.
VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said that it includes many objects of archaeological importance like flowers made of stone, Kalash, Aamalak, Dorjamb etc.
Apart from this, during the excavation, a 5 feet Shiva Linga, 7 pillars of black touchstone, 6 pillars of red sandstone and broken idols of gods and goddesses were also been discovered.
“Work is continuing at a slow pace due to strict regulations. We will be providing updates regularly,” Bansal said in a tweet.
Temple existed beneath Babri Mosque: Former ASI Regional Director
KK Mohammad, former Regional Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, in 2018 said that while carrying out an extensive survey at Ayodhya the ASI team found “existed brick foundations, which supported the pillars of a pre-existed temple.”
In an article in DNA, Mohammad further said that temple-pillars were embedded on the walls of Babri Masjid and that these pillars were made of a Black Basalt.
In ancient Indian temple art, ‘Poorna Kalas’ is considered one of the eight auspicious symbols of prosperity and around 14 pillars had been discovered before the mosque was demolished in 1992, he had said adding that there were Poorna Kalasas engraved at the bottom of the pillars.
Mohammad as a student of archaeology was a member of the team headed by Professor BB Lal.
Work resumes at Ayodhya’s Ram temple site
Earlier this month, the Yogi Adityanath government allowed construction activity to resume during the lockdown after which the metal barricades erected around the makeshift temple and the CRPF camp at the site were removed and levelling of the site started.
A local team of PWD officials are working in coordination with engineers of Larsen & Toubro that will be supervising the temple construction, reported IANS.
The Supreme Court of India gave the final judgment on Ayodhya dispute last year in ordering the disputed land (2.77 acres) to be handed over to a trust created by Government of India to build the Ram Janmabhoomi.
The court also ordered the Centre to give 5 acres of land in another place to the Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque.
