Babur, Babur Nama and Babri Masjid
Shehanshah e Hindustan Babur is a great figure in Indian history. No history of India can be written without reference to Babur. Luckily Babur left behind a chronicle that has great historical value. This is the Babur Nama which chronicles his ideas and also gives a vivid account of his reign.
Babur founded the Mughal dynasty in 1526, which lasted for more than 200 years. The last remnant of the dynasty Bahadur Shah was captured by the English and imprisoned at Rangoon in 1858. What was Babur's rule like ? what sort of man was he ? To glean some information of all this, the Babur Nama is a great source. Almost one third of this book is devoted to India. A reading of the book reveals that Babur had no compunction of killing anybody, even those men who had surrendered to him. The Babur Nama records at many places that he built pyramids of the skulls of his opponents and that also included the men who had surrendered to him. He was also a heavy drinker and a poet. The Babur Nama also records that he built gardens and fountains as Babur was very fond of gardens.Yet this man is reported to have burnt down Hindu temples and built mosques on their ruins.
The Babur Nama acknowledges that Babur destroyed the places of worship of the 'infidels" meaning Hindus. He is reported to have destroyed the Hindu temple at Ayodhya and built a mosque over it called the Babri Masjid. What does the BaburNama say about the destruction of the temple at Ayodhya ? A surprising thing is that there is no mention of the period the Babri masjid was built and by corollary there is no mention of the destruction of Ayodhya temple. Does it mean that Babur did not destroy the Hindu temple?
It is also known that many parts of the Babur Nama are missing and there is a possibility that this episode of the Babri Masjid is not available.. A clue to mind of Babur is the mention in the Babur Nama of destruction of a Hindu temple in Bihar and construction of a Mosque on it. This shows that Babur approved of destruction of Hindu temples and now from other sources we know that there was a large Hindu temple at Ayodhya which was razed to the ground by Mir Baqi a general of Babur in 1528. He built a mosque there which greatly pleased the emperor. A stone placard at Ayodhya confirms this.
The Masjid was pulled down in 1992, but the aftermath is sad. The Indian government made a hugh and cry for the destruction of One mosque while over 1000 Hindu temples were razed to earth in Pakistan and Afghanistan after this one mosque was pulled down.
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