A Civilizational War Won On Hindu Terms

Arun Anand

The struggle for construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya lasted for about 500 years. It commenced immediately after demolition of the Ram temple by invader Babur’s forces.

For Bharatiya society, Islamist Babur represented and practised a set of values that didn’t believe in co-existence. In contrast, Lord Rama personified civilizational values that reflected Hindus belief in ‘Vasudheiv Kutumbakam’ (the whole world is one family).

The struggle for building of RamTemple at Ayodhya was a civilizational war between these two different sets of values. How Hindus fought this war and won despite all odds is a breath taking story that the world needs to know. This story has precisely been narrated in my book, “Ramjanmabhoomi: How Hindus won 500 years long civilizational war”. It’s a Suruchi Prakashan publication.

This story is not about merely a temple or God. It’s more about the victory of ‘Dharma’ that is the soul of Hindu civilization and Bharat.  This book encapsulates the protracted struggle as well as discusses global impact of the story of Lord Rama and the values he represented and practised.

The book has used ancient scriptures, archaeological records, British colonial era and legal documents to take the readers on an epic journey that starts with birth of Lord Rama and ends with ‘pran prathista’ of Ram Lalla at his birth place in Ayodhya on January 22 this year.

The book deals with key questions that have been posed on historicity of Lord Rama’s existence. It also brings to readers accounts of foreign travellers and global impact of Lord Rama’s story through Ramayana and Ramcharit-manas, the two books that have been translated into almost every language. Decades of my field experience as a hard core news professional across media platforms and reading between the lines has come handy in piecing together this exciting story of Lord Rama who’s revered by about 1.5 billion Hindus living across continents.

(Arun Anand is a journalist based in New Delhi. He has worked at editorial positions in leading dailies and broadcast including The Statesman Dainik Jagran Midday IANS and TV Today. The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books)