Agra: A petition has been filed in a local court in Uttar Pradesh's Agra seeking to perform Hindu worship at the Taj Mahal while claiming it to be an “ancient Shiva Temple”.
The petition was filed on Monday afternoon in the Civil Judge Senior Division Court by the 'Yogi Youth Brigade'. In the petition, the petitioners have demanded the offering of Ganga water as well as Jalabhishek at the Taj Mahal on the occasion of Mahashivratri.
The petitioners claimed that Taj Mahal was actually a “Shiva temple, whose name is Tejo Mahalaya Shiva Temple”. Therefore, on Mahashivratri, ASI should allow him to perform Jalabhishek in Taj Mahal, they said.
Pertinently, during the Urs of Emperor Shahjahan, the issue of converting Taj Mahal into Tejo Mahalaya was raised by Hindu organizations. Even then a case was filed in the court to ban Shahjahan's Urs at one of the seven wonders of the world. The case was scheduled to be heard on March 4.
But due to the recent death of advocate Sunil Sharma, advocates are currently abstaining from work in protest due to which the hearing of the case could not be held. That case will be heard on March 22.
The fresh petition to allow Hindu worship at the Taj Mahal has been filed by Yogi Youth Brigade state president Kunwar Ajay Tomar in the Civil Judge Senior Division Court through advocate Shiv Aadhar Singh Tomar and advocate Jhamman Singh Raghuvanshi.
The petitioners have sought permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to perform anointment with Ganga water on Shivratri along with four officials by declaring Taj Mahal as Tejo Mahalaya Shiv temple.
Kunwar Ajay Tomar, who filed the suit, claimed that during the Mughal period, “thousands of temples were demolished and tombs and mosques were built on them”. “The biggest examples of this are in Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi. During their rule in India, the Mughals demolished Hindu temples and built mausoleums and mosques in their names, which is very wrong. Putting a name plate with your name on someone else's house does not make it your own house. Similarly, before the Taj Mahal, there was the Tejomahalaya Shiva temple,” the petitioner said.
Advocate Shiv Aadhar Singh Tomar, representing the Yogi Youth Brigade said that in the year 1212, King Param Dev Dravidev had built a Shiva temple in Agra which was named Tejomahalaya Tejomahal.
“It was here that the construction of Taj Mahal was completed in 1653. Whereas Shahjahan's son Aurangzeb had written a letter to his father in 1652 itself that cracks had appeared in the building and it could fall any time and should be repaired. This also makes it clear that somewhere some old symbol has been modified. The Kalash on the main dome is like that of Hindu temples. Even today there is a tradition of installing golden Kalash in Hindu temples. There is a moon on the urn. Due to its planning, the moon and the tip of the Kalash together form the shape of a trident which is the symbol of Lord Shiva,” Tomar said.
Tomar further said that the symbols of Kalash, Trishul, Lotus, Coconut and Mango tree leaves are inscribed on the outer walls of Taj Mahal “which are symbols of Hindu temples”.
Significantly, the fresh petition comes over six years after the ASI had filed an affidavit in an Agra court saying that the Taj Mahal was the tomb built by Mughal emperor for his wife Mumtaz while responding to a plea claiming the Taj Mahal as an ancient Hindu temple.
