This work briefly examines the antiquity of the Rama Katha and spread of the Rama cult over the Indian sub-continent in the context of claims of Left academics on its late popularity. Its main focus in the conflict at Ayodhya over the Ramjanmabhumi Temple allegedly destroyed by the Mughal Emperor, Baber, in 1528. It examines the counts of foreign travelers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and British administrator-scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which testify to Ayodhya’s continuing importance as a pilgrimage centre associated with Rama’s birthplace. The extended litigation over the Ramjanmabhumi/Babri Masjid in colonial times further attests to the persistence of the claims to the Janmabhumi.
The writings of Left academics, the findings of the ASI, the extended arguments in the Allahabad High Court and its eventual verdict all form the subject of this study. |
