SEE HOW GYANVAPI MOSQUE BUILT ATOP VISHVESHPUR TEMPLE

Varanasi (The Quiver)Controversial case of Gyanvapi Mosque is going on in Varanasi court. The court has ordered for a survey  in the mosque premises. As the debate over the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex continues in the courts, some evidences are found which suggest that the mosque is built over the Vishveshwar temple.

 The 19th century English author James Prinsep, during his stint as illustrator and traveller, decoded the present Gyanvapi mosque way back in 1831 when he had travelled across the city of Varanasi.

Prinsep using the technique of lithography wrote in his book ‘Benares Illustrated, A Series of Drawings’, discussed the architecture of the old Vishveshwar temple, the present Gyanvapi mosque and how Mughals under Aurangzeb converted the original structure into a capacious masjid to establish their religious hegemony.

WHAT JAMES PRINSEP SURVEY SAYS ?

Talking about Gyanvapi mosque in his book, James Prinsep said the view was taken from the south-west corner of what was then called as Jumma Musjid or the principal mosque of the city.

He illustrated that the dome and minaret surmounting the “Hindoo walls” were the work of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and the tombs were of the same date.

Prinsep wrote that Muslims (Mughals), in their zeal for the triumph of their own religion, discovered a method of converting the original structure into a capacious masjid, without destroying above one half of its walls — so that not only the ground plan, but the entire architectural elevation, may still be traced out. A specimen of the order has been lithographed to show the proportions of the different moldings.

In his work, Prinsep wrote about his findings: “Part of one of the Hindoo domes also remains: it is not formed on the principle of the arch, but by the successive protrusion of the courses of stone, and by cutting off the angles laterally, so as to change the square into a polygot, and thence gradually into a circle; the under edges of the courses are neatly worked up into rosettes and pannels, and present a not inelegant appearance.”

Have a look on some of old pictures and Sketches of Prinsep on Vishveshpur Temple

WHAT HISTORIAN AND RESEARCHER DINESH KAPOOR SAYS?

Historian and researcher Dinesh Kapoor says, “Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1669 destroyed the temple of Vishveshwar on which the mosque was built and still remain as it is. He further says that three domes are built over the two Shiva Mandaps and the central Mahadeo Shrine which existed in the center before.”