Rajasthan Assembly Speaker condemns remarks of Ajmer cleric on Jain monks

Jaipur: Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani Thursday strongly condemned an audio statement given by Sarwar Chishti, secretary of Anjuman of Ajmer dargah, on Jain monks visiting Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra in Ajmer without clothes.

Anjuman is a body of khadims (clerics) of the Ajmer dargah.

A group of Jain monks accompanied by the VHP leaders on Tuesday went to the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra in Ajmer, an ASI-protected mosque, and claimed the monument was earlier a Sanskrit school and a Jain temple existed there before the school.

The monks led by Sunil Sagar Maharaj reached the monument from Fawara Circle via Dargah Bazaar.

Later, an audio message of Chishti surfaced on social media in which he said he had registered his protest with police while objecting to the Jain monks' visit without clothes to the monument, in which there is also a mosque.

Reacting sharply to the statement of Chishti, Speaker Devnani said he has insulted the 'Sanatan' culture by commenting on the Jain monks and he should apologise to the entire 'Sanatan samaj'.

Devnani, who is from Ajmer, said the statement of Chishti against the Jain monks is 'extremely disgusting, unfortunate and indicative of distorted mentality'.

He said that a letter will be written to the Archaeological Survey of India to know the truth about the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra.

"The Jain saints remain clothless throughout their life and give the message of a life full of devotion and penance to the society. Their conduct is a symbol of purity in the society. The Jain saints have always emphasised on non-violence," Devnani said.

"The comment he has made regarding the clothes of the Jain saints is an insult to the entire Jain society and Sanatan culture," he said.

The Speaker said Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra has always been imprinted in the public mind as a Sanskrit school.

"The people of Ajmer know what importance it had in the form of education in the ancient times in the Sanatan culture. How it was captured and became Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra from a school is a matter of research," he said.

Devnani said a letter will be written to the ASI to know the truth about Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra.

"Sanatani will not tolerate this kind of petty mentality," he added.

The monks who reached the monument are of the view that there was a Jain temple before a Sanskrit school there.

According to the ASI website, the monument is a mosque built by Qutub-ud-Din-Aibak, the first Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, in AD 1199, and is contemporary to the other one built at Qutub Minar complex in Delhi known as Quwal-ul-Islam mosque (power of Islam).

A large number of sculptures of temples are lying in the verandah of the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra complex, which shows the existence of a Hindu temple in its vicinity during 11th-12th century AD, the website says.

The mosque, built from the dismantled remains of the temples, is known as Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra possibly from the fact that a fair used to be held here for two-and-a-half days, it said.