‘Gyanvapi neither masjid nor Hindu temple, but Buddhist mutt’, religious leader’s PIL in Supreme Court

A fresh row erupted on Thursday when a Buddhist religious leader claimed that "Gyanvapi is neither a mosque nor a Hindu temple but a Buddhist mutt". Buddhist religious leader Sumit Ratan Bhante has now approached the Supreme Court with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding his claim.

With the new claim, the matter has taken a different turn even as the Hindu side insists that the mosque was built at Gyanvapi after the demolition of the temple by the late Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. While the Muslim party rejects such claims as baseless. A fresh claim by the Buddhists has now given a new dimension to the whole problem. The Buddhist religious leader also demanded a separate survey to look for evidence of Buddhist mutts.

Bhante also claimed that many temples across the country were built by demolishing Buddhist mutts.

A PIL in the case in the apex court was filed by Bhante seeking a probe. He also claimed that the trishul and swastika symbols found in Gyanvapi belonged to Buddhism.

According to Sumit Ratan Bhante, the symbols that are described as jyotirlingas at Gyanvapi or Kedarnath are the Buddha Stupa. "And this shows that Gyanvapi is neither a Hindu temple nor a mosque, but a Buddhist mutt," Bhante declared. Bhante says he is on a mission to find out how the Buddhist mutts and various Jain-Buddhist mutts were destroyed to give way to the temple.

He said that all temples and mosques should be restored to their original form, however, their forms have changed in the country. He claimed that the Buddhist population wanted the same. Bhante said he will also file a PIL regarding Badrinath and Kedarnath so that they can be restored to their original form. According to Bhante, Buddha's religion is the oldest of all.

"If the ASI conducts the survey in the right way, then Gyanvapi will prove to be a Buddha mutt, and if it is true, then Gyanvapi should be handed over to us," Bhante said. "Islam came 1,500 years ago and Hinduism came 1,200 years ago, but Buddhism is 2,500 years old," Bhante.