Pandav’s Lakshagraha vs Sufi shrine: How BJP is winning Baghpat’s Mahabharat

Mohammed Qayumuddin spends the day cutting hair and trimming beards and moustaches of men at Barnawa village in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district. The 68-year-old’s clientele includes both Hindus and Muslims. For decades, Barnawa has exhibited peaceful coexistence despite a long enduring communal contest over 110 bighas of land.

While Muslims say the structure on the site is the mazaar (mausoleum) of Sufi saint Badruddin Shah, Hindus have believed it to be Lakshagraha.

“It is a trap, and we do not want our brothers to fall into it. Since my childhood, I have heard stories that it was Lakshagraha. Our Hindu brothers believe that this is the place where Lakshagraha was located, and we believe that it is an Ibadat Gah (place of worship) and mazaar of Sufi saint Badruddin Shah. Now, we just want to let the court decide. The two communities have lived peacefully for long, and we do not want this harmony to be disturbed,” said Qayumuddin, whose shop is a few metres away from the gate of the Lakshagarha, now a protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), told The Federal.

The epic Mahabharata has it that Lakshagraha, also called the House of Lac, was the setting of an assassination plot set by prince Duryodhana against his cousin brothers, the Pandavas — Yudhishthir, Bheem, Arjun, Nakul and Sehdev. It was a trap laid by Duryodhana to kill his cousins by setting them afire while they were in sleep.

Lakshagraha is believed to be situated on top of a mound in the middle of fields at the confluence of the Hindon and Krishni rivers. 

The battle of Mahabharata was fought and won ages ago but a mahabharat (long battle) is being waged over the Lakshagraha in the 21st century. Caught in the trap are Hindus and Muslims. The two communities are in a legal tangle in Baghpat district’s Barnawa village over the land, which the local Muslim community claims is Badruddin Shah’s dargah, and the Hindus believe to be the exact place where Duryodhan’s Lakshagraha stood. In the Mahabharata, the place was named Varnavata.

The dispute and the choice

“We cannot visit the place. We have only heard stories from our elders that Urs used to be celebrated at the dargah with many people visiting the place. We have not witnessed it because nobody is allowed to go there. People from both communities have realised that there is no point in fighting each other, and we will abide by the order of the court. There is no communal tension in Barnawa between Hindus and Muslims,” said Mohammed Shahid, 34-year-old provision shop owner in the village.

Barnawa village is located nearly 100 kilometres northeast of Delhi in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, and Lakshagraha is believed to be situated on top of a mound in the middle of fields at the confluence of the Hindon and Krishni rivers.

While the dispute has been old, it reached court in 1970. On February 5, a local court ruled that the ownership of the land belonged to the Hindus. Realising that the dispute could take the form of a communal fire and become a law and order challenge, the local administration has deployed over 100 policemen and paramilitary personnel to maintain peace in the area.

“It always remains peaceful in Barnawa. We have never faced any communal clashes here because of this issue. People here have left the issue for the court to settle. Now, the two communities do not even discuss it. People are busy with their daily lives. The young boys and men are either busy with their shops or have gone out for work to different cities,” said Vijay Pal Kashyap, a 75-year-old farmer, who has been following the court case since 1997.

Apart from the dispute between the members of the two communities, Barnawa village has always intrigued local historians and archaeologists who believe that the village is a historical site and the disputed mound can reveal secrets of the Mahabharata era.

After several requests and meetings, ASI finally took notice of the pleas of several archaeologists and historians from the region, and decided to carry out excavations in the entire region for nearly three months in December 2017.

The local historians and archaeologists have long urged officials of ASI to carry out excavations of the mound to see if remains dating back to the Mahabharata era could be found in the area.

“There has always been curiosity over the Mahabharata in India, especially in the areas of western Uttar Pradesh. Places that were mentioned in the Mahabharata like Mathura, Vrindivan, Hastinapur and Kurukshetra exist,” said KK Sharma, associate professor at Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut.

The mound is not under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Explaining the findings of the ASI excavations, Sharma said that the archaeologists recovered painted grey ware pottery from the area which was also found during excavations done in Hastinapur, Kurukshetra and Mathura.

“When we talk about evidence, there are normally two types of evidence. The first is literary evidence. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that a Lakshgraha was built by Duryodhan and other Kauravas. So there is literary evidence, and during the excavation of the area, painted grey ware pottery was found that is believed to be from the era of the Mahabharata,” said Sharma, who was earlier involved in the excavation and discovery of the Harappan era burial site in the Sinauli area of Baghpat.

Implementation of law

“We have only one request from the government. Please implement the law that was passed by the government itself. We want the government to implement the Places of Worship Act, 1991. We do not want to fight with our brothers. Hindus are our brothers, and we celebrate all the festivals together in this village. So it is best that the government implements the law and there is an end to this kind of discussion,” said Haji Yameen, 73-year-old flower shop owner.

While most people in Barnawa village believe that the dispute does not affect their day-to-day lives and is more of a legal battle than a contest over religious practices, they want the Union government to implement the Places of Worship Act that was passed in 1991.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, prohibits the conversion of any place of worship and aims to maintain the religious character of such places as existed on August 15, 1947.

With the growing demand to settle the disputes of Mathura and Kashi after the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, it seems that there is a section within the minority community that feels that the implementation of the Places of Worship Act is imperative for the peaceful coexistence of both communities. Some members of the Muslim community in Barnawa feel that there should be an end to this debate over different religious places between the two communities.

“The court case over Lakshagraha started in 1970, and it has been over 53 years, yet the case is going on. We want the government to implement the law and end this discussion over disputed sites at once. Otherwise, there will be dispute over different religious places all over the country,” said Mohammed Gulfam, a 40-year-old provision store owner.

Asked about a possible solution in Barnawa, Gulfam suggested that instead of a court case, the two communities should sit together and resolve their dispute. However, a legal battle seems imminent as the lawyer representing the Muslim side plans to appeal in district court and is in the process of taking opinions from other legal experts in Lucknow and Allahabad.

“We are talking legal consultations, but we will file an appeal against the judgment. We still have time, so we are busy with the consultation process to decide on the future course of action. The good part of the dispute is that it is only a legal dispute, and there is no ill-feeling among community members in the village. The judgement of the court has gone against us, and we will appeal against it,” said Shahid Ali, lawyer representing the Muslim side.

The political divide and vote consolidation

While the trap of Lakshagraha has failed to bring the majority and the minority community to a point of confrontation, the growing political divide ahead of general elections has led to the consolidation of Hindu voters in the area in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With just three months left for the general elections, the consolidation of Hindu voters in favour of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has torn apart the social fabric that was stitched together by former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, who brought together the dominant Jat community and Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh and made them into a political force.

Police personnel are camping in the area to ensure law and order is not disturbed.

However, the rise of the BJP in the last decade and the political mileage that the BJP has managed to garner after the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya have led to the political consolidation of the Hindu majority. To make matters worse for the Muslims who were hoping to defeat the BJP in Baghpat this time, their leader, Jayant Singh, chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and grandson of Chaudhary Charan Singh, has decided to join hands with the BJP and become a member of the NDA before the polls.

“Jayant Singh has cheated us. We thought he would be part of the INDIA coalition, but he has joined hands with the BJP,” said Mohammed Babu, a mechanic in Barnawa village.

Even though the members of the minority community are annoyed by the decision of Jayant Singh, the Jat voters in the area have come out in support of the political decision. Members of the dominant Jat community, who enjoy the power to tilt the election in some areas of western Uttar Pradesh, feel that the decision of Jayant Singh will help in the consolidation of Hindu voters in the entire region of western Uttar Pradesh.

“Even if Muslims are unhappy with the decision, candidates of the RLD and Jayant Singh will win by a mammoth majority in the region. It is possible that Jayant Singh could even surpass the winning margin of all BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Ankit Kumar, who runs a pesticide shop adjacent to the Banwara police station.