A delegation of Jain monks and VHP leaders have claimed that a Sanskrit school and Jain temples existed on the site of Ajmer’s Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra.

By Deep Mukherjee

Jaipur: A delegation of Jain monks accompanied by Sangh parivar outfits visited the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra in Rajasthan’s Ajmer on Tuesday (May 7). After inspecting the compound of the historic monument, they claimed that a Sanskrit school had once existed at the site with Jain temples.

Following Jain monk Sunil Sagar’s visit to the monument, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Ajmer picked up the issue and demanded that the monument be conserved on the lines of Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath and Mathura.

“We saw idols of tirthankaras, gods and goddesses, resembling Ganesh ji, or Yaksha. We couldn’t go inside the rooms where these idols are kept because the key wasn’t there. Our visit to the place was successful. There was a time when the Mughals had huge influence and it is possible that it is called Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra because they changed the old structure and gave it a new look within a very short time. If a balance is created then once again a Sanskrit school, Bhartiya gaurav (pride) should be established at the place,” Sagar told reporters after his visit.

Sagar said that it is suspected that more idols could be buried near the monument and excavation should be undertaken to discover them.

“Several youths from the city were with us. Muslim community members also assembled. I said that everyone should live in peace but everyone should respect each other’s sanskars and those things should be returned to whom it belongs,” said Sagar.

The Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra is presently under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

“It is actually a Masjid built by Qutub-ud-Din-Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi, in AD 1199 contemporary to the another one built at Qutub-Minar complex of Delhi known as Quwal-ul-Islam mosque (power of Islam). Sultan Iltutmish had subsequently beautified it in AD 1213 with a screen pierced by corbelled engrailed arches which appears in this country for the first time,” says the website of ASI Jaipur Circle in its description of Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra.

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.