Bhopal, May 15 -- A long-running religious dispute over a mediaeval monument in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district reached a landmark turning point on Friday, as the Madhya Pradesh High Court declared the Bhojshala complex a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, handing a decisive victory to the Hindu community that had contested the site's status for decades.
The Indore bench of the High Court, comprising Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi, ruled that "the religious character of the disputed complex of Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque is established as a temple of Goddess Saraswati". Along with the declaration, the bench struck down a 2003 Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order that had permitted Muslims to offer namaz at the complex every Friday. The court also ruled that the Central government and the ASI may now decide on the monument's administration and management.
The 11th century structure, protected by the ASI, has long been at the centre of competing claims. The Hindu community revered it as a shrine to Vagdevi, another name for Goddess Saraswati, while Muslims referred to it as Kamal Maula Mosque and considered it a place of Islamic worship. A petitioner from the Jain community separately argued that the complex was originally a medieval Jain temple and gurukul, a traditional centre of learning.
The controversy had prompted the ASI to issue its 2003 arrangement, which allowed Hindus to worship at the site every Tuesday while Muslims offered namaz each Friday. Both provisions drew legal challenge, with the Hindu side pursuing exclusive worship rights through public interest litigations, which the court ultimately accepted on Friday.
The bench, citing the ASI's scientific survey report and other documents placed before it, noted clear indications of a Sanskrit teaching centre and a temple of Goddess Saraswati within Bhojshala. The court also connected the structure to King Bhoj of the Parmar dynasty, a Rajput kingdom that governed the Malwa region of present-day central India between the 9th and 14th centuries.
The ASI's survey, which was ordered by the High Court on March 11, 2024, began on March 22 and concluded after 98 days. The agency submitted its report, running to over 2,000 pages, to the court on July 15 of that year. The report indicated that a massive structure predating the mosque existed at the site during the reign of the Parmar kings and that the current structure was built using repurposed temple components. The Hindu petitioners pointed to coins, sculptures, and inscriptions uncovered during the survey as further proof of the complex's original character as a temple.
The court observed that the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque site is protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and that this protection applies retrospectively from March 18, 1904, in line with earlier heritage laws. On this basis, it held that the disputed structure is to be understood in its original religious context as Bhojshala, a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.
Rejecting the Muslim community's reliance on a 1935 Ailan issued by the former Dhar State declaring the structure a mosque, the court noted that the Government of India Act, 1935 came into force only in April 1937. Since the proclamation predates the operative legal framework, the court found it legally untenable and insufficient to determine the site's status.
The Muslim side, however, contested the findings, arguing in court that the survey report was biased and prepared to support the Hindu petitioners' claims. The ASI responded by stating that the survey had been conducted with expert assistance, including three specialists from the Muslim community.
The court, in its ruling, also addressed the Muslim community's access to a place of worship. It said that if the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, the Muslim party in the case, applies to the state government for land in Dhar district to construct a mosque, the government may consider the request in accordance with applicable legal provisions. The court also directed the Union government to initiate steps to bring back the idol of Goddess Saraswati currently kept in a museum in London. The idol has been in the United Kingdom since it was taken there in the late 19th century. The court further ordered that, once returned, the idol should be reinstalled at the Bhojshala complex.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.