Archaeologist
too believes Ram temple existed at Ayodhya
http://www.newstodaynet.com/07mar/ld1.htm
NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 7:
The
VHPs assertion through scientific data that a Ram temple existed at the disputed
site in Aydodhya now has the backing of archaeologists who dug up the place in
the 1980s.
According to an agency story, one of the architects who conducted extensive
digging on a half-acre area barely a metre off the site has said the excavations
will establish without doubt the existence of an ancient temple.
The
observation of the archaeologist is significant as the Allahabad High Court has
ordered excavations at the disputed site.
The
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is already preparing its team to begin
excavations within a week at the site to ascertain the antiquity of structures
detected in radar tests in January.
But
even before that archaeologists are saying that a temple existed there.
The
structures we found dated back 3,000 years to 900 B.C., S.P. Gupta, who was
among the dozen archaeologists who excavated the site from 1975 to 1980 has been
quoted as saying by a news agency.
Gupta
described pillars, floors, brick walls and even statuettes uncovered by his
team. We covered them up with earth after our studies were complete, he has
said.
If
these findings were barely a metre away from the actual spot of dispute, then it
is obvious that the temple would have covered the disputed site too.
Another expedition was conducted in 1992 just before the demolition of the Babri
structure.
According to Gupta, 68 idols had been uncovered in that bout of digging and
there were certain indications of a sprawling temple complex that existed before
the Babri mosque.
The
demolition put a lid on the controversial excavations, and the dispute shifted
to the political arena until the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court
Tuesday ordered the ASI to excavate the site and submit a report within a month.
Admitting that it would be one of their most sensitive assignments till date,
ASI officials said their digging would take off where Delhi-based ground mapping
company Tojo Vikas International left off.
An
official of the company said their ground penetrating radar technique to map
underground utilities had definitely sensed remains of a structure underneath.
Canadian expert Claude Robillard led the team that used radars to study the
site. In this method, an antenna transmits electro-magnetic waves, which
penetrate the layers of underground structures and are deflected.
The
time taken by the waves to travel can tell the size and shape of structures
without any actual digging involved.
The
ASI commissioned the radar studies, conducted at the site excluding the spot
where Hindus worship the idol of infant Ram, at the instance of the Allahabad
High Court.
According to Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders such as Ashok Singhal, the very
finding of a structure indicates that the Babri mosque was built on the ruins of
an ancient temple.
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