The Ram Mandir Bhoomi pujan is all set to take place on August 5th, a date chosen strategically to rub salts into the wounds of the left-liberal intelligentsia as it is the same date when one year ago Article 370 was abrogated from the then state of Jammu & Kashmir.
The foundation-laying ceremony will start from August 3 and will commence on August 5 with the auspicious occasion expected to be graced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath among several other invitees.
However, the biggest of the names amongst the invitees is the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who by all estimates is reaching the holy city of Ayodhya along with the architecture-in-chief of the whole Ram Mandir issue, Lal Krishna Advani.
A photo of a 22.5 kg silver brick is doing the rounds of social media platforms which PM is expected to put in the ground to commence the Bhoomi puja and we can’t help but say, “One small brick for the Ram Mandir, one gargantuan leap for the Hindus”
More than just laying the foundation stone of the holy Ram Mandir, here in the birthplace of Bhagwan Ram–the event is all set to transcend the modern memory of Hindus and their culture.
The decision might have come 500 years late but the 21st century India is all set to be revolutionized by what the cameras will record on August 5th.
- Cultural reset for the Hindus
In one true sense, the Bhoomi pujan and the eventual construction of the temple might be the cultural reset that the Hindus of the country critically needed.
When built completely in three-years time, the Ram Mandir will be the living, breathing reminder for the Hindus who fought tooth and nail to snatch victory from the jaws of Islamists who without any historical prevalent of the sight leeched onto it for centuries after centuries.
- Sanatan Dharma—a way of life, sustaining itself through centuries of attacks
There is a reason why Sanatan Dharma is called ‘a way of life’, though most Indians and especially Hindus are still oblivious to this way of life but in hindsight, the subconsciousness of this trait has sustained the Hindus, all alive, through the numerous radical invaders, Mughal emperors and their rule.
From the demonic Ghazni to the vicious Aurangzeb to the barbaric Britishers, Hindus have weathered all the storms.
A marked feature of the Islamic rule or invaders in India was the destruction of the Hindu temples of worship and the ‘permanent’ replacement of the structures by Mosques.
The Islamic rulers in the medieval era had only one aim, the expansion of Islam at any cost. Unfortunately, India also became a victim of this expansionist population and the most immediate consequence of the Islamic invasion was the mass conversion of the Hindus and utter desecration of the Hindu places of worship.
Some of the most wanton destruction occurred during the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni, from Afghanistan, who raided India numerous times from 1000-1030. According to several historians, Mahmud “utterly ruined the prosperity of Hindustan.”
When he attacked Mathura, the historians painted a picture of his savagery terming his stimuli being seeing the fall of Hindus.
“In the middle of the city there was a temple larger and finer than the rest, which can neither be described nor painted. The Sultan was of the opinion that 200 years would have been required to build it…the Sultan gave orders that all the temples should be burnt with naptha and fire, and leveled with the ground.”
The holy temple of Somnath in Gujarat is the biggest reminder to Hindus that how centuries after centuries, the marauders and plunderers tried their level best to demolish the identity of Hindus.
Mahmud sacked the Somnath Temple for the first time in 1025 and it was again destroyed in 1299 by Allauddin Khilji of Delhi. After being rebuilt, it was destroyed again in 1395 by the Muslim governor of Gujarat. In 1665, another reincarnation of the temple was destroyed by the Aurangzeb—one of the biggest Hindu-hater to have walked the face of the earth.
It was on Aurangzeb’s orders that in 1669, one of the holiest temples of the Hindus, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi (then Prayag) was demolished and a mosque built on its spot.
The Gyanvyapi Mosque as it is called today shares the boundary with Kashi Vishwanath and the cries have been rallying over the years from Hindus to take back what was once theirs.
There are similar stories of prominent Hindu temples being demolished by Muslim rulers. The list goes on and encompasses much of India and major Hindu holy sites. There are hundreds of temples in Kannauj, Mathura, Multan, Vrindavan, Varanasi, Thanesar, and Allahabad that no longer exist. Therefore, one does not have to be deeply religious or nationalistic to perceive or believe these hard cold truths.
The Mughals would be laughing in their graves at the Muslims of India who are turning these barbarians into the motif of Indian Muslims identity. The same Muslims whose ancestors were converted forcefully into Islam.
India is a land of paradoxes and the biggest existential crisis Indian Muslims face is tracing their lineage. The Muslim world of Arabia looks down upon the Indian Muslims and consequently, they have no choice but to make Mughals like Aurangzeb into their false idols.
The severe existential crisis that the fresh converts face drives them to an unnatural apathy towards the Hindus.
- Britishers and their agenda of colonization
For the British agenda of colonization and conversions to succeed the Temples had to be weakened. (And mind you, this is after hundreds of years of the Mughal rule goes to show you the strength of Sanatan Dharma to stand torrid of times.) In order to weaken the Temples, the Britishers took control of these holy places and slowly drained them out of money.
The traditional way of imparting education, the construct of the Hindu society was encroached upon, and then came the missionaries which converted the Hindus in hordes to Christianity.
(We at TFI have been vociferously calling for the current government to take a back seat on the issue of governments having a say in the operation of the temple and we are hopeful that we will see a turnaround in this colonial-era rule.)
But despite the Hindu places of worship being continuously desecrated over the last hundred years, the Hindus and the Sanatan Dharma has stood tall.
- The minaret of the left ecosystem, being chipped away one block at a time
While the previous politicians in power used to be afraid of enraging their vote-banks, Muslims in particular, here we have one Narendra Damodardas Modi, who not only wears his religion on his sleeve but is doing what was considered unthinkable 6 years ago.
The left-liberal intelligentsia in the articles and common folklore likes to use the word Hindu Nationalist party, Hindu ideology, Hindutva ideology, and whatnot as if it insinuating these words was abuse or an insult. However, things are changing for the good.
The building of Ram Mandir is a gentle reality check to the left ecosystem that the minaret that it had built on the foundation of the evil of secularism and constant demonizing of Hindus is being chipped away, one block at a time. And that’s why the building of Ram Mandir is the biggest cultural victory for India, for a new magnificent chapter is being added to Sanatan Dharma’s history.