Ayodhya: The No War Zone That Was.

Translating roughly from Sanskrit, Ayodhya, literally, is the land where there are no wars (Yudh). This is where the Hindu mythical icon Rama is said to have been born, more a paragon of virile virtues than a religious figure initially, but one whose place of birth merited worship- the Rama Janmabhoomi. This is where Hindus of the pre-Mughal era erected a complex for worship of this deity, and where, in the fifteenth century, Babur's henchmen built a mosque, strangely enough acknowledging that the site had in fact been a sacrosanct one for their Hindu brethren. Centuries later, the Hindu majority flared up in insurgency and demolished the Babri mosque in December 1992, shortly after a Bhartiya Janta Party led traditional Kar Seva. Communal riots broke out in as many as two dozen Indian cities as far apart as Mumbai and Faizabad.

And now, after close to two decades of a legal battle that has been quite a vendetta, India's Supreme Court deigned to assign a third of the 2.77 acre property that was the mosque to Ram Lala temple authorities, and the same fragment to the Sunni Wakf and the Nirmohi Akhara. How and why Hanuman was dragged into this debate befuddles me; the explanation that he was Rama's devotee seems illogical and weak. And the Akhara men call themselves "unattached", I presume to communalism, but they did not show any apathy towards acquiring land after having squeezed themselves into the lawsuit in 1985, and setting off a spate of fire across the country's religious minority.
What will be done with the land redistributed to two generally conflicting communities remains to be seen. The verdict has all the potential to generate ferment across the subcontinent- the Muslim minority might suffer from feelings of being denied what was "rightfully" theirs. The winning Hindu might gloat about being granted what was similarly theirs, and provoke their Islamic counterparts. Whether siphoning of resources that come with the property happens remains to be seen. Our hopes and prayers are with those who do not want the mythic Ayodhya, the war-free land, to be bathed in blood again.