New Delhi: The first brick of the Kalki temple in the communally sensitive Sambhal will be laid tomorrow. The contentious project was stuck in the courts for nearly half a decade. Leading the charge behind its construction is the Shri Kalki Dham Nirman Trust, which is chaired by godman turned politician, Acharya Pramod Krishnam. It will be a three-day festival.
Krishnam was expelled from the Congress party over anti-party activities on 2 February last year. Shortly after, on 19 February, he laid the foundation stone for the temple along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The event, just months before the 2024 general elections, was Modi’s first-ever visit to Muslim-majority Sambhal as Prime Minister, a constituency the BJP had lost in 2019, even as it largely swept through Uttar Pradesh.
Since that February, Sambhal has seen a lot of turmoil. In November 2024, a court-ordered survey was conducted at the Jama Masjid in the city to look for remnants of an ancient Kalki temple. Subsequent clashes between residents and police led to a riot, which resulted in the death of five people. Hindus believe that the mosque was built on the site of Harihar Mandir, regarded as the birthplace of Vishnu’s last avatar, Kalki.
In a separate survey, the ASI, during an anti-encroachment drive discovered the ‘Kartik Mahadev temple’, which was opened in December. These surveys were part of the ‘Sambhal Teerth’ campaign, started by the Sambhal Nagar Palika to find Hindu pilgrimage sites within the Sambhal district. The mention of the temples in Skanda and Garuda Purana was cited as the basis of the anti-encroachment drives.
After discovering the Shiv temple in Sambhal, where they found a Shiva idol, a Hanuman idol, and 19 ancient wells, the ASI also visited the Kalki temple, which is believed to be 300 years old. A four-member team visited the temple for only 15 minutes, focusing on finding a ‘Krishna roop’, and a well inside the temple premises.
The Skanda Purana mentions 35 pilgrimage sites and 19 wells. The district continues to search for the ‘missing’ 33 pilgrimages.
Also read: Sambhal: A history of violence
The contentious temple
Krishnam is currently the head priest or peethadishwar of the Kalki Dham in Sambhal. He had told ThePrint in an interview earlier that he renounced everyday life to become an ascetic and build a temple on the wishes of his mother. The temple that currently exists next to the mosque is reported to have been built by the Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar, nearly 300 years after the first one is believed to have been destroyed.
The Hindu residents claim that the Shahi Jama Masjid was built over the original Kalki Dham.
Krishnam always wanted to build a Kalki Dham and had acquired land in Sambhal for the same in the 2010s at Achora Kamboo village. The village is about 20 kilometres from the Jama Masjid. The first attempt at laying a foundation for the temple, in November 2016, was blocked by the Muslim Kisan Union. In 2017, the District Magistrate of Sambhal denied permission to build the temple, citing communal tensions.
Pramod Krishnam filed a writ petition Allahabad High Court in 2018, challenging the DM’s order. The court then overturned the order in 2023, and the foundation-laying ceremony of the Kalki temple was allowed.
The Allahabad High Court, in its order, said that even if it was true that religious sentiments could be hurt, it should not prevent Krishnam from building the temple on his land. The court observed that it is the duty of the administration to protect fundamental rights of its citizens, and that it was the fundamental right of the petitioner (Krishnam) to use his property in a manner that is not prohibited by law.
At the foundation stone ceremony, Krishnam had said the temple will have ten sanctum sanctorums dedicated to each avatar of Vishnu. The pyramidal tower of the temple is planned to be 108 ft tall.
Also read: Sambhal’s massive makeover as holy Hindu city has begun. Skanda Purana is the blueprint
Legend of Kalki
According to Hinduism, Kalki is the tenth and final avatar of Vishnu. He is supposed to come to Earth during Kalyug, or the dark times.
And this reincarnation is believed to take place in Sambhal. His appearance will end Kalyug and begin a new cycle of Satyug—described as the golden age in Hindu mythology.
Protests in Sambhal call the temple more important than Ayodhya. It is among the contentious sites where Hindus want an ASI survey to be conducted.
The story of Kalki has also found space on the big screen with the movie Kalki 2898 AD. Set in a dystopian future, Deepika Padukone plays the woman who will give birth to god, and Amitabh Bachchan plays Ashwathama, the son of Guru Dronacharya.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)