http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33
By: V Sundaram
Thursday, 08 May, 2008 , 03:07 PM
In the first week of March, 2008, when Francois Gautier organized an exhibition of old paintings at the Lalit Kala Academy Hall, Chennai, depicting the brutalities, atrocities and crimes of Aurangazeb against the Hindus of India in the 17th
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century, the lawless elements belonging to the Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), aided by the Tamilnadu Police forcibly entered the Hall and threatened the organizers. Later, one disgraceful and irresponsible Police Officer by name K N Murali, directly participated in the removal and destruction of rare and invaluable paintings that had been displayed in the exhibition
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Vellore fort |
and thus brought the whole exhibition to a nasty end. Encouraged by this open official support of Tamilnadu Government, under its atheistic and anti-Hindu (but Islam-embracing!) Chief Minister Karunanidhi, the TMMK President M A Jawahirullah, has stated that Muslims from Vellore and various parts of the State have expressed their willingness to take part in the Friday Prayers on 9th of May, 2008. Even as the Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) is prepared to forcibly enter the Nawab Masjid in Vellore Fort to offer prayers on Friday, police have stepped up the security turning the mosque into a virtual fortress. The IG of Police Radhakrishnan has declared ‘Anyone trying to breach the police cordon would be arrested.’
The entire Vellore Fort Complex comes under the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) which has refused permission for prayers to be conducted in the mosque. This Fort has an interesting history. This was built about 600 years ago by Thimma Reddy and Pomma Reddy, Nayakar feudatory Governors of the Vijayanagar Empire. Constructed of large granite blocks, this Fort is known for its grand ramparts, wide and deep moats and robust masonry. It successively passed from the hands of the Vijayanagar Nayaks to Bijapur Sultans to Marathas and then to Carnatic Nawabs and finally to the British till our Independence on 15 August, 1947.
The large and impressive Jalakanteswara Shiva Temple was first built by Thimma Reddy and Pomma Reddy in the classical Vijayanagara style of Architecture. Later they raised a fort around it. And then in order to protect the Fort Complex and the Temple, they constructed well designed deep moats around the Fort Complex. The Temple is located on the Northern Wall within the Fort. The beautiful Lingam of Lord Shiva in this Temple gets its name of Jalakanteswara from the natural underground spring upon which it resides. The presence of this perennial spring is one of the reasons why the moat around this Fort has never dried, no matter how severe a drought. Named after Jalakanteswara or ‘Lord Shiva residing in the water’, the Temple has a Nataraja Shiva deity in the Northern altar and Shivalingam on the Western altar. The 30m (100ft) high seven-storey Gopuram is made of blue granite,flanked by two carved Dwarapalakas. The Jalakanteswara Temple is renowned for the magnificent carvings on the pillars of the Kalyana Mandapam which are fashioned as roaring lions, horses with riders, yalis and other mythical beasts.
Tippu Sultan came and invaded the Fort at Vellore in the latter half of the 18th century. When the Hindus of Vellore got scent of his evil intention to invade and destroy Jalakanteswara Temple, they took advance action to shift the five foot Shivalinga to a nearby village called Sattuvachari and installed it at a Hindu Temple there. Like Mohamed Ghazni, Mohamed Ghouri, Timur, Babar, Aurangazeb, Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali, Tippu Sultan invaded Vellore Fort and ransacked the Jalakanteswara Temple with Islamic fervor. He defaced all the idols inside the Temple and anyone can see the traces of Tippu Sultan’s Islamic destruction and vandalism at this Temple.
When the British established their power in South India after defeating Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan, they started using the Fort Complex for locating their Public Offices. Even today we can see an inscription to the effect that there was a Post Office inside this Fort in British India. When Lord Curzon introduced the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act in 1904, soon thereafter, the Vellore Fort was taken over by the Archeological Survey of India.
Soon after our Independence, Kirupananda Variar took a special interest to resume the prayers at the Jalakanteswara Temple inside the Fort. Thousands of petitions were sent to the Government of India seeking permission to offer prayers at the Temple. In 1975, Kirupananda Variar raised more than one lakh of rupees and went and met Indira Gandhi, our Prime Minister, to persuade her Government to issue orders giving permission to the Hindus to visit the Temple and offer their prayers. As Kirupananada Variar was not successful in his mission, he did not evince any further interest in this case. In 1980, Sri Ramgopalji, Hindu Munnani Leader visited Vellore and gave them the message ‘Hindus of Vellore unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!’ On 13 March 1981, the Hindus of North Arcot District united in a grand manner under the spiritual leadership of Mylai Guruji and moved the Shiva Linga Idol from Sattuvachari Village Temple to the Vellore Fort Temple. The main spirit behind this popular movement was Swayamsevak VeeraBahu, who was then the Vellore Pranth Pracharak in the RSS. Thus the Hindus of North Arcot District succeeded in starting the prayers at Jalakanteswara Temple. Since then, more than 30,000 Hindu devotees have been visiting the Jalakanteswara Temple everyday.
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Ramagopalan |
I spoke to Shri Ramgopalji, Hindu Munnani Leader today and asked him about his reaction to the political stand taken by the Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) President Jawaharillah. Shri Ramgopalji told me ‘I would like to warn all concerned that the peaceful town of Vellore would turn into a battle ground if the Government of Tamilnadu gives permission for Islamic prayers in the ‘makeshift’ mosque inside the historic Fort, which also has the famous Jalakanteswara Temple and a Church in it. The Muslim League had given a signed undertaking in 1983 to the effect that it would not resort to building a mosque inside the Fort since there was no evidence of any mosque ever having been in existence there. Inside Senji Fort there is a Venkataramaswamy Temple and no worship is allowed at that Temple by the ASI. We are abiding by the rules and regulations of ASI. Muslims offer their prayers in Railway Trains, Railway Stations and Airports. On this simple ground, demand cannot be made by Muslim Political Parties that all Railway trains, Railway stations and Airports should be declared as mosques. Moreover, there is a Tamilnadu Police Armoury inside the Vellore Fort. If permission is given to the Muslims to offer their prayers at the ‘makeshift’ mosque inside the Fort, then it will give a convenient opportunity to the naxalities in the neighbouring Chitoor district of Andhra to come to the Vellore Fort in the guise of Muslims to offer their prayers and to let loose violence in Tamilnadu. There is every possibility of terrorist linkages being established between these Naxalites and Islamic Terrorists in Tamilnadu’.
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