Editing Babri Masjid (section)

=== Inscriptions ===
''The Disputed Mosque: A Historical Inquiry'' by Sushil Srivastava mentions that The Babri Masjid has ''three'' inscriptions in Persian,  in different styles of [[calligraphy]], two outside and one inside the mosque-just above the pulpit. [[Annette Beveridge|A.S. Beveridge]]'s translation of the  inscription inside the mosque, mentions that by the order of Babar, Mir Baqi constructed the mosque in the year AH 935 (AD 1529).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=The Babri Masjid Question, 1528-2003: 'A Matter of National Honour' |publisher=[[Tulika Books]] |isbn=9789382381457 |editor-last=Noorani |editor-first=A.G. |volume=1 |pages=89}}</ref> The summery of the findings of B.B. Lal's excavating team by [[Swaraj Prakash Gupta|S.P. Gupta]] is in agreement with this inscription.<ref name=":1" /> Only six lines of one of the two external inscriptions are legible. The legible inscription has apparently been written in praise of God, The Prophet and Babar, who has been called a qalandar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Srivastava |first=Sushil |title=The Disputed Mosque: A Historical Inquiry |publisher=[[Vistaar Publications]] |year=1991 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>

[[Francis Buchanan-Hamilton]] (Buchanan) did a survey of the Gorakhpur Division in 1813–14 on behalf of the British East India Company. His report was never published but partly reused by [[Robert Montgomery Martin|Montgomery Martin]] later. Kishore Kunal examined the original report in the [[British Library]] archives. It states that the Hindus generally attributed destruction "to the furious zeal of Aurangzabe". Yet, it was ascertained to have been built by Babur by reying upon "an inscription on its walls". The said inscription in Persian was said to have been copied by a scribe and translated by a Maulvi friend of Buchanan. The translation however contained five pieces of text, including ''two'' inscriptions. The first inscription said that the mosque was constructed by Mir Baqi in the year 935&nbsp;AH or 923&nbsp;AH.{{efn|{{harvnb|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|loc=Chapter 5}}: "By order of King Babur whose justice is a building reaching to the mansions of heaven, this alighting place of the angels was erected by Meer Baquee a nobleman impressed with the seal of happiness. This is lasting Charity in the year of its construction what declares in manifest "that good works are lasting." The anagram "good works are lasting" represented the year 935. "From the Tughra: There is no God but God, and Mohammad is the Prophet of God. Say, O'Mohammad, that God is one, that God is holy, unbegetting and unbegotten, and that he hath no equal."}} The second inscription narrated the genealogy of Aurangzeb.{{efn|{{harvnb|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|loc=Chapter 5}}:"The victorious lord, Mooheyoo Din, Aulumgir, Badshah, the destroyer of infidels, the son of Shah Juhan, the son of Juhangeer Shah; the son of Ukbar Shah; the son of Humayoon Shah, the son of Babur Shah; the son Oomer Sheikh Shah; the son of Soolatan Uboo Saeed; the son of Soolatan Moohammad Shah; the son of Meeran Shah, the son of Shaib-i-Qiran Meer Tymoor." "From the Tughra: In the name of God, most merciful I testify that there is no God but God. He is one, and without equal. I also testify that Mohammad is his Servant and Prophet." "Upon the propitious date of this noble erection, by this weak slave Moohummud Funa Ullah."}} In addition to the two inscriptions and their monograms (''tughras''), a fable concerning a dervish called Musha Ashiqan was also included. The translator doubted that the fable was part of the inscription but recorded that the scribe "positively says that the inscription was executed at the erection of this building". The translator also had a difficulty with the anagram for the date, because one of the words was missing, which would have resulted in a date of 923 AH rather than 935 AH. These incongruities and mismatches made no impression on Buchanan, who maintained that the mosque was built by Babur.{{sfn|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|loc=Chapter 5}}

In 1877, Syed Mohammad Asghar the Mutawalli (guardian) of the "Masjid Baburi at Janmasthan" filed a petition with the Commissioner of Faizabad asking him to restrain the Hindus that raised a chabutara on the spot regarded as the birthplace of Rama. In the petition, he stated that Babur had inscribed one word "Allah" above the door. The district judge and the sub-judge visited the mosque in the presence of all parties and their lawyers and confirmed this fact. No other inscriptions were recorded.{{sfn|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|loc=Chapter 5}} In 1889, archaeologist [[Alois Anton Führer|Anton Führer]] visited the mosque and found three inscriptions. One was a Quranic verse. The inscription XLI was Persian poetry in the metre Ramal, which stated that the mosque was erected by a noble 'Mir Khan' of Babur.{{efn|{{harvnb|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|p=168}}:
# By the order of Babur, the king of the world;
# This firmament-like, lofty;
# Strong building was erected;
# By the auspicious noble Mir Khan;
# May ever remain such a foundation;
# And such a king of the world.}} The inscription XLII was also Persian poetry in metre Ramal, and said that the mosque was founded in year 930&nbsp;AH by a grandee of Babur, who was (comparable to) "another King of Turkey and China".{{efn|{{harvnb|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|p=169}}:
# In the name of God, the merciful, the clement.
# In the name of him who...; may God perpetually keep him in the world.
# ....
# Such a sovereign who is famous in the world and in person of delight for the world.
# In his presence one of the grandees who is another King of Turkey and China.
# Laid this religious foundation in the auspicious Hijra 930.
# O God! May always remain the crown, throne and life with the king.
# May Babar always pour the flowers of happiness; may remain successful.
# His counsellor and minister who is the founder of this fort masjid.
# This poetry, giving the date and eulogy, was written by the lazy writer and poor servant Fath-Allah-Ghori, composer.}} The year 930 AH corresponds to 1523, three years before Babur's conquest of Hindustan. Despite the apparent contradiction, Führer published the date of "A.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;930 during the reign of Babar", in his book of 1891.{{sfn|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|loc=Chapter 5}}

Writer Kishore Kunal states that all the inscriptions claimed were fake. They were affixed almost 285 years after the supposed construction of the mosque in 1528, and repeatedly replaced.{{sfn|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|p=143}} His own assessment is that the mosque was built around 1660 by governor Fedai Khan of Aurangzeb, who demolished many temples in Ayodhya. Lal Das, who wrote ''Awadh-Vilasa'' in 1672 describes the ''janmasthan'' (Rama's birthplace) accurately but does not mention a temple at the site.{{sfn|Kunal, Ayodhya Revisited|2016|p=xxvii}}

These developments were apparently known to local Muslims. In mid-nineteenth century, the Muslim activist Mirza Jan quoted from a book ''Sahifa-I-Chihil Nasaih Bahadur Shahi'', which was said to have been written by a daughter of the emperor [[Bahadur Shah I]] (and granddaughter of [[Aurangzeb]]) in the early 18th century. The text mentions mosques having been constructed after demolishing the "temples of the idolatrous Hindus situated at [[Mathura]], [[Banaras]] and Awadh etc." Hindus are said to have called these demolished temples in Awadh "''Sita Rasoi''" (Sita's kitchen) and "Hanuman's abode."{{Sfn|Narain, The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute|1993|pp=23–25}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEOFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |title=Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property |author=[[Robert Hugh Layton|Robert Layton]] and [[Julian Thomas]] |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-134-60498-2 |page=8 }}</ref> While there was no mention of Babur in this account, the Ayodhya mosque had been juxtaposed with those built by Aurangzeb at Mathura and Banaras. The manuscript, ''Sahifa-I-Chihil Nasaih Bahadur Shahi'', has not yet been found, and scholar Stephan Conermann has stated that Mirza Jan book, ''Hadiqa-yi shuhada'', is not reliable.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/iaf/article/view/1588 |title=Muslimische Quellen in der Ram Janmabhumi Mandir-Babri Masjid Debatte |work=[[International Quarterly for Asian Studies|Internationales Asienforum]] |date=1994 |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-date=8 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008015139/https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/iaf/article/view/1588 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some historians like [[Ram Sharan Sharma|R.S. Sharma]], [[M. Athar Ali]], [[D. N. Jha|D.N. Jha]] and Archeologist [[Suraj Bhan (archaeologist)|Suraj Bhan]] have concluded in their work, ''A Historians' Report to the Nation,'' that It is very likely, that the work (''Sahifa-I-Chihil Nasaih Bahadur Shahi'') or the passage (quoted above in this paragraph) was a figment of Mirza Jan's imagination.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Babri Masjid Question, 1528-2003: 'A Matter of National Honour' |publisher=[[Tulika Books]] |isbn=9789382381457 |editor-last=Noorani |editor-first=A.G. |volume=1 |pages=45}}</ref>