Is it a temple or a mosque? Hindus go to court in India
In more than ten areas in India, Hindus are aiming to replace existing mosques with temples. This new Hindu religious ardour is straining Hindu-Muslim ties. Varanasi, one of the world's oldest cities, is tense. In Varanasi's Gyanvapi Mosque, there are minarets, a dome, and five daily prayers. Sita Sahu, 40, is adamant: "It was never a mosque." The structure was clearly a temple. One of the 17th-century white mosque's walls appears like an old brown temple wall. Historians agree that Aurangzeb razed a Hindu god Shiva temple and built the modern mosque on its foundations. Under the mosque's dome, has the building always been a temple? Sahu agrees. She and four others want to worship Hindu gods at a mosque. Sita says the outer wall has a carving of Shringar Gauri. Women want to break down the mosque's walls to see if any gods remain. This case has escalated mosque tensions. All entrances and access roads are carefully secured, and the dome is barricaded. The...