History
Ram
Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is
believed to be the birthplace of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity
Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the
banks of the Sarayu river in a city called "Ayodhya".Some
Hindus claim that the exact site of Rama's birthplace is where the Babri Masjid
once stood in the present-day Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. According to this theory,
the Mughals demolished a Hindu shrine that marked the spot, and constructed a
mosque in its place. People opposed to this theory state that such claims arose
only in the 18th century, and that there is no evidence for the spot being the
birthplace of Rama.The
political, historical and socio-religious debate over the history and location
of the Babri Mosque, and whether a previous temple was demolished or modified
to create it, is known as the Ayodhya dispute.In
1992, the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindu nationalists triggered
widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.Several
other sites, including places in other parts of India, Afghanistan, and Nepal,
have been proposed as birthplaces of Rama.
The
five judges Supreme Court bench heard the title dispute cases from August to
October 2019. On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the land to be
handed over to a trust to build the Hindu temple. It also ordered to the
government to give alternate 5 acre land to Sunni Waqf Board to build the
mosque. On 5 February 2020, the trust known as Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth
Kshetra was created by the Government of India. The trust will oversee the
construction of the Ram Mandir. The foundation stone for construction of the
temple was laid on 5 August 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.