Varanasi: Barely 10 minutes from the disputed Gyanvapi complex, Godowlia Market in Varanasi’s Madanpura is a thriving marketplace. It was best known for its Banarasi saree emporiums. But, that’s not why it is making headlines. A group of men identifying themselves as members of ‘Sanatan Raksha Dal’ descended on the market Wednesday, blew a conch shell, and declared their mission—to ‘snatch a temple from the jaws of orthodox Muslims’.
Under normal circumstances, a decrepit and abandoned temple bang in the middle of a bustling market wouldn’t turn heads in an ancient city like Varanasi. But, the obscurity of this non-descript structure is now guarded by more than a dozen police personnel.
Though it stands unharmed, its presence in a largely Muslim-majority locality has spurred suspicion that the temple was deliberately ‘concealed’ or encroached upon. A part of the reason is the ‘Sanatan Raksha Dal’, whose members march through these streets chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and call the structure ‘Siddheshwar Mahadev’.
S.M. Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee which oversees affairs of the Gyanvapi complex and a few other local mosques, tells ThePrint that the temple in Madanpura is “on the main road and visible to all”. “It has not been harmed, and it has not been opened. Hindu customers throng the market daily, did they never see it?”
However, for ‘Sanatan Raksha Dal’ founder Ajay Sharma, it’s not about the state of the temple. He wrote to Varanasi District Magistrate S. Rajalingam Thursday, stating that the temple is not private property and prayers must be permitted at the structure with immediate effect. There are another 56 ‘lost’ temples spread across the larger Madanpura area, claims Sharma, citing the Kashi Khand—a section of Skanda Purana dealing with a detailed account of Kashi (now Varanasi).
Exactly a week ago, the district administration in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal reopened an ‘ancient temple’ they “stumbled upon” during a drive to check power theft. Sambhal is also where four Muslim youngsters were killed during a protest against a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, an ASI-protected monument, on 24 November.
Also Read: Gyanvapi to Sambhal & Ajmer Sharif, SC order on Places of Worship Act likely to impact 11 sites
The ‘discovery’
Photographs of the newly discovered temple in Madanpura are doing the rounds on Varanasi-specific social media pages and locals’ WhatsApp groups. The structure is being hailed as an ‘ancient 250-year-old Shiva temple’. After members of ‘Sanatan Raksha Dal’ came to its rescue Wednesday, police had to be deployed to prevent any flare-ups.
As many as 15 policemen remain deployed at the temple. “Everything is peaceful. We’ve spoken to community representatives and nobody wants to escalate the situation. The Muslim community has no problem with Hindus coming here and offering respects,” says Pramod Pandey, station house officer (SHO) of Dashashwamedh police station.
What then about customer footfall at Godowlia Market? It has dried up, say shopowners ThePrint spoke to. There is also the claim that shopowners from the area are being threatened by anonymous callers, though no police complaints have been filed yet.
“We have been receiving threatening phone calls incessantly; callers use abusive language, tell us if we don’t leave this market and run back straight to Pakistan, we’ll be killed,” alleges a relative of a shopowner who did not wish to be named. This shopowner’s contact number and GST details are prominently displayed on a board right behind the temple.
Whose temple is it anyway
The temple in Madanpur abuts the residence of one Mohammed Zaki, who says his great-grandfather Haji Atul Mateen purchased the property from a Bengali gentleman by the name of Harihar Das in 1917. “This was a private temple, not a public one where people came to offer prayers. But, our family never touched the structure. We never open it but maintain it from the outside. You can see we’ve got repair work on it done too,” he says.
Zaki adds that it is up to the district administration to decide where to go from here. “People can come and offer their respects, we don’t mind.”
Barely 100 metres from the structure are two temples dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. Both were decorated with fairy lights and fresh marigolds Thursday. A shopkeeper claims both are also “extensions” of homes of Muslim families. “Prayers are offered. We have absolutely no problem with it. Four-five people from the Yadav community visit these places. If we were so averse to temples in the area, could this happen?”
The larger question, though, is that can Madanpura—a saree-weaving hub where a market for Banarasi sarees flourished over the past decade—move past tensions spurred by this week’s events?
“Nobody hid the temple or caused it damage. The media is saying the temple was dug out. Dug out from where? It is in the middle of the market!” says another exasperated shopkeeper from the area.
But, Sharma of ‘Sanatan Raksha Dal’ won’t budge. He has asked Muslims to put a new lock on the doors of the temple, and furnish a Rs 100 stamp paper declaring ‘no objection’ to prayers being offered at the structure. “I have snatched a temple from the jaws of orthodox Muslims .. I think it is an achievement.”
Asked if he was aware of Muslim shopkeepers from the area receiving threatening calls, he replies: “I’ve said to them earlier that you can reopen the temple with a donation of Rs 51.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: New temples, old Hindu-Muslim script. Sambhal is Hindi TV’s latest prime-time theatre
another demented sidek ick of coupaji from print family..why are you sensing so much of mirchi in your backside, if a hindu temple is rejuvenated ?
Ms. Misra seems to be vying desperately to get the attention of the “secular” brigade. This report of hers hardly qualifies as objective journalism. This is quite clearly propaganda at work.
Portraying the Santa Raksha Dal members as a vile bunch of communal thugs out to create trouble while giving a clean chit to the Muslims who have encroached upon the temple.
But such blatantly biased and non-sensical reportage can surely pave Ms. Misra’s way to reputed journalism schools (Columbia, Harvard, Yale, etc.), that too on a scholarship, via the blessings of the well-connected liberal-secular brigade.