Right-wing groups and revisionist dabblers in history have intermittently claimed that the Taj Mahal was once a Hindu Shiva temple named ‘Tejo Mahalaya’
(Photo Courtesy: SIRAJ QURESHI)
THE CONTROVERSY
Right-wing groups and revisionist dabblers in history have intermittently claimed that the Taj Mahal was once a Hindu Shiva temple named ‘Tejo Mahalaya’. The claims are rooted in self-styled historian P.N. Oak’s book Taj Mahal: The True Story (1989), which claimed that the original structure was most likely built by Hindu ruler Jai Singh I centuries before the Mughals arrived.
WHO’S BEHIND IT
Recently, BJP leader Rajneesh Singh filed a petition, demanding that a fact-finding panel establish “the real history of Taj Mahal”, and examine 22 sealed rooms for the possible presence of Hindu gods’ idols. Before him, BJP leaders Kapil Mishra (in 2020) and Vinay Katiyar (2017) had made similar claims. Diya Kumari, BJP MP from Rajsamand and a member of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, has recently claimed that the land on which the Taj Mahal stands belonged to her ancestors.
WHERE IT’S HEADED
On May 12, the Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition filed by Rajneesh Singh. “Please enrol yourself in MA, then go for NET, JRF and if any university denies you research on such a topic, then come to us,” the court told the petitioner. When he insisted on access to “those rooms”, the court remarked, “Tomorrow will you ask to go to the chambers of honourable judges?”
“Oak’s theory about the Hindu temple has no historical basis, it’s more of a myth,”
– M. Sajjad, professor of history, AMU
On May 15, The Archaeological Survey of India released photographs of maintenance work being undertaken in some of the underground rooms closed to the public. Agra ASI chief R.K. Patel said the pictures are on the ASI website as a part of the January 2022 newsletter. According to Professor Mohammad Sajjad, professor of history at Aligarh Muslim University, “Oak’s theory about the Hindu temple has no historical basis, even courts have never agreed on them. It’s more of a myth.”
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In 2017, the ASI had told an Agra court that the Taj was a tomb, not a temple. The current controversy might die down for now, but dubious claims about the Taj keep floating on in the internet.