Tired of Ayodhya? Wait until the Parivar comes here

There’s a familiar ring to this, almost as it was in those pre-Dec 6 days when the Babri Masjid was still around, an object of constant scrutiny and a hatred multiplying manifold with the Janmabhoomi players stoking passions.

Mathura’s an overnight rail journey from Ayodhya’s Ground Zero but the Sangh Parivar isn’t the only one that’s traversed this distance in one leap of faith. There are signs and symbols all around: a blurred line between mythology and history, heated talk of a dhaancha on janmasthan, policemen joking with boys as they point fingers at the Idgah.

And almost everyone ready to explain how Lord Krishna’s birthplace has been ‘‘violated,’’ most recently by Aurangzeb, five generations removed from Babar, almost 10 from today. Depending which side you are on, you interpret the image: the Krishna Chabutra, a marble pavilion over the ‘‘garbha griha,’’ in perfect harmony with the Idgah.

Or dwarfed by its rear walls and huge green-white domes. Ringed by men of the CRPF 130 Battalion. Jayant and his friends have come all the way from Kota to Mathura, joining a crowd that numbers about 500 this afternoon. In contrast, the mosque is deserted, CRPF jawans standing guard.

There’s nothing, at least now, to give them a headache. But it’s just a matter of time, say officials of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust—which oversees the site—who don’t want to be named.

They talk of the Mathura shrine ‘‘liberation’’ being on the Sangh Parivar’s agenda. So what if this Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah masjid complex is covered under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which provides for maintenance of the religious character of a place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

At the office of the trust responsible for the Janmasthan, men sit and discuss the failure of the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s bid on Ayodhya: ‘‘Did he expect the Muslims to say a yes? It’s good he brought up Mathura and Kashi. Someday we will move ahead from Ayodhya.’’

Near the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum is a board which explains it all: four temples built but destroyed. The Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan distributes literature which gives you an account of the temples built at the Janmasthan: a stone inscription in Brahmi, dating back to the 1st Century BC, speaks of the reign of Kshatrapa Shodasa and a man named Vasu who got a temple, an arched doorway and an altar built at the birthplace of Krishna.

The second temple at the site came up during the rule of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. It was destroyed in 1017 AD by Mahmud of Ghazni. In Katra Keshavdev, they found an inscription on a stone slab which speaks of the third temple, built by Jajja in Vikrama Samvat 1207 (1150 AD) during the rule of Vijaypal Deva. It’s said Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited the same temple when he came to Mathura before its destruction by the forces of Sikandar Lodhi in the 16th Century.

The fourth temple, the destruction of which is the source of the modern controversy, was built by Veer Singh Dev Bundela of Orchha when Jehangir was on the Mughal throne. But Aurangzeb’s said to have ordered its destruction in 1669 and the present-day Idgah was constructed over a part of the raised plinth of the Keshavdev temple.

Vijay Bahadur Singh, the Trust security officer, gives you a lowdown on subsequent events: auction of the land by the British, the law suits between Muslims and Hindus, the role of Madan Mohan Malviya and others in restoring the land and the establishment of the Trust with G V Mavalankar as its first president.

What he leaves unsaid, until you check with him, is that the present president of the Trust is Mahant Nritya Gopal Das. Yes, the same Mahant from Ayodhya’s Maniram Das Chhawni, one of the leading lights of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. No wonder they talk of moving ahead from Ayodhya someday.