The Battle for Rama is a concise reference book on one of the most critical and controversial issues in Bharāt- the birthplace of Lord Sri Rama at Ramjanmabhumi at Ayodhya. The book details the entire history of the place, the continued worship and faith of millions at the site, and the various conflicts due to the construction of the Babri Masjid by Babur and its subsequent demolition.

As always, Meenakshi Jain’s book is highly academic, with many primary source reference materials. Page by page, she lays out the history of Rama at Ayodhya, records from Babur and other foreign travelers on the continued worship and the destruction of the Mandir, the resistance from the Muslim side, the subsequent filing of cases under the British Raj, the archaeological excavations conducted by ASI to ascertain the nature of the pillars and the structure beneath it, the various inscriptions recovered and finally the judgment delivered by the Allahabad High Court after detailed examination of the evidence and testimony from both sides.

The most revealing part of the book is when Dr. Jain exposes the blatant hypocrisy and active misinformation peddled by the Left Historians to discredit any claim of the existence of a Hindu Temple underneath the Masjid and the importance of the site for Hindus. Most notable among these are Prof. Irfan Habib and Prof. Romila Thapar, both of whom went out of their way to continually change their stance from the lack of existence of any temple to claiming it to be Buddhist and Jain structures to then claiming it to be a mosque underneath Babri Masjid and openly refuting the ASI surveys and reports pre-emptively. The court acknowledged this hypocrisy, and Dr.Jain rightly wonders what a damaging effect this handful of historians had on a subject of such national importance. By their admission, none of these historians were even qualified archaeologists, but they still had no qualms in dismissing evidence without justification.

Today, we know the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict, but at the time of this book’s writing, we only knew the ruling of the High Court. Despite overwhelming evidence of continued existence since the 13th century BCE and a massive temple structure underneath the mosque, the court still split the site among the three parties, which was not acceptable to the Left Historians and hence moved to the Supreme Court.

On the eve of the Ram Mandir inauguration at Ayodhya next year, this book is an essential reminder of the endless struggles Hindus went through to reclaim their rightful claim to build a temple and worship Lord Rama at his birthplace.

Also published here.