SHRINE BREAKING

As elections approach so do the shrines! Shrine entry, shrine breaking, shrine building… Ah, Indian politics though art very religious!!

But, seriously, with Ram Mandir – Babri Masjid controversy hotting up I looked up places and am convinced that shrine-breaking was indulged in by the followers of almost EVERY faith. Here is yet another credible narrative. The following passage kind of summarizes this

“But this process did not start with the Portuguese or Muslims. Many Brahmanical shrines are themselves said to have been built on earlier sites of worship, either belonging to the indigenous peoples, or to the ‘Shamana’ or non-Brahmanical cults, especially the Buddhists and the Jains. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reported finding Buddha statues, often headless or with their noses cut off, i.e. deliberately mutilated, near or actually below Hindu temples.”