The debate on whether Taj Mahal was originally a Hindu temple has come up again
krishna murthy
In the year 2015, a group of seven persons filed a plea before the civil judge in Agra.
The case number 356 filed by all lawyers had an ask-“ allow Hindus to access the premises of the Taj Mahal for worship because the monument was originally a Shiva Temple called Tejo Mahalaya.
The petitioners also said that the devotees should be allowed to perform ‘darshan’ and ‘Aarti’ within the Taj Mahal where currently only Muslim devotees ar allowed to pray at a Mosque.
The petitioners also asked for unlocking of the locked rooms within the monument.
There are at least 109 archaeological features and historical evidence to establish beyond any doubt that the suit property is a Hindu temple, the petition said.
The structure of the main building is on a marble platform, in square layout and has eight faces, both outside as well as from inside; and the three faces on East, West and South are entries to the sanctum sanctorum, while the North side is closed with a ‘Marble Jali,’ the petition also said.
These are essentially the structural features of every “Shiwala” in North India,” the petition filed by Hari Shankar Jain and others said.
The petition is still pending in the lower court. However a similar petition has been filed in the Allahabad High Court which seeks a directive to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to open 20 rooms inside the Taj Mahal and check for the presence of possible Hindu idols
In 2017, the Central Information Commission asked the Government whether the Taj Mahal was a mausoleum or Shiv Temple. The issue had gone to the Supreme Court, but the the petition was struck down.
P N Oak had written a book, Taj Mahal a true story in which he argues that it was a Hindu temple.
Several sites have posted arguments on why the Taj Mahal was in reality a temple and not the tomb of Mumtaz, wife of Mughal ruler Shahjahan.
The term Taj Mahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb's time, it was said.
Mahal"is never Muslim because in none of the Muslim countries around the world from Afghanistan to Algeria is there a building known as "Mahal, Oak argued