No Hindu temple at disputed site

National Catholic Reporter, July 4, 2003 by Dennis Coday

AYODHYA, India -- The state-sponsored Archaeological Survey of India has found no evidence of Hindu temple remains under the ruins of a mosque in Ayodhya northern India.

The lack of archaeological evidence calls into question Hindu nationalists' claims that the mosque in the town of Ayodhya stands on a sacred Hindu site marking the birthplace of the god Ram. Hindu hardliners are campaigning to build a Hindu temple in the town.

The archaeological dig to determine whether a temple ever existed under the mosque was ordered by India's courts in March in an attempt to settle ongoing and sometimes violent clashes over the site.

Contention over the Ayodhya mosque site in Uttar Pradesh state has strained Hindu-Muslim relations since 1992, when Hindu zealots destroyed the 16th century mosque and incited nationwide riots in which 3,000 died.