What James Prinsep's 200-year-old book, map reveal about the Gyanvapi site

James Prinsep, a British numismatist and archaeologist, had made significant contributions in recording India's history.

At the age of 28, he came to India and was the youngest member of the British Asiatic Society.

He had decoded the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts which helped the world in knowing about emperor Ashoka's reign and that the king known as Devanampriya Piyadasi was none other than the emperor Ashoka.

The Prinsep Ghat, which lies on the banks of the Hooghly River and at walking distance from Kolkata's Eden Gardens, is named after James.

James first served in Kolkata and then Varanasi for 10 years. The ghat was named as a way to recognise his contributions after he passed away in London at the age of 41 in 1840.

He also built Varanasi's underground sewage system, which is still operational, and restored the Alamgir Mosque, built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669.

He also drew the city’s maps and wrote a book Benares Illustrated, A Series of Drawings in 1831.

On the ongoing mosque-temple dispute in Varanasi, India Today was told that Prinsep's book and maps will be used as a part of the evidence to be presented by the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case.

In the book, James used lithography to engrave every scene on paper and present information with adequate evidence.

More importantly, the book discussed the architecture of the old Vishweshwar temple, and how the original place of worship was converted to the present Gyanvapi mosque.

It was Aurangzeb who razed the Kashi Vishweshwar temple in 1669 and built the Gyanvapi mosque using the same foundations and materials.

In the book, James describes how Aurangzeb's men used the destroyed material of the Kashi temple to build the Gyanvapi mosque.

According to the publication, James in his book wrote, "The bigotry of Aurungzeb did not allow many vestiges of this more ancient style to remain. In 1660, for some trifling resistance to the imposition of a capitation tax, he took occasion to demolish the principal Shiwalas, and constructed Musjids or mosques with the same materials and upon the same foundations, leaving portions of the ancient walls exposed here and there, as evidence of the indignity to which the Hindoo religion had been subjected."

The Kashi Vishweshwar temple in Hinduism holds immense significance as it is the temple where it's believed that Lord Shiva appeared as a column of light.

It was very similar to the use of materials from the destroyed 12th-century temple that were purportedly used to build the Babri masjid in Ayodhya. The Babri masjid was constructed in 1528 by Babur’s commander, Mir Baqi.

James revealed the old plan of the Kashi temple by drawing a map and marking on it how the Aurangzeb-built mosque stood.

James explains in his book that how he managed to draw the map of the old Kashi temple which was destroyed in the 17th century, but he visited Varanasi in 19th century, which happens to be a gap of about 160 years.

According to the publication, he wrote in the book, "Antiquarians will be well pleased that the Moosulmans, in their zeal for the triumph of their own religion, discovered a method of converting the original structure into a capacious Musjid, without destroying above one-half of its walls; so that not only the ground plan but the entire architectural elevation, may still be traced out."

James shared the map (in the chapter 'Plan of the old Vishveshwur Temple') which shows that the old Kashi temple had eight mandaps and a central section which he called ‘Mahadeo’.

He wrote, "The darkly shaded part shews the figure and foundations of the principal dewul: the fainter, those of the outer dewulees. The whole must have formed, when complete, a picturesque groupe of nine spires around a central pyramid. The heights diminishing from the centre towards the corners in the proportions of sixteen, eight, and six, as seen by the ground plan."

Lawyer of the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case Vishnu Jain, told India Today that the book and the map will be part of the evidence in the case.

According to the publication, James in his book wrote, "The principal lingam of Mahadeo stood in an ornamented reservoir in the centre, having a drain below to carry off the Ganges water continually poured over it by day and night."

The Director General of the National Museum, B R Mani, told the publication, "James has shown the place of Vishweshwar or Mahadev in the centre of the temple and indicates that the principal lingam was located in a water reservoir and that could be the so-called fountain in the wazukhana, which could have been originally the ornamented reservoir having the lingam."

Mani, who led the Allahabad High Court-ordered excavation at the then-disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque site in 2003, says that the wazukhana, or the ablution area, of the Gyanvapi mosque was sealed in 2022 following a Supreme Court order. According to the Hindu side, the fountain-like structure in the wazukhana is a 'Shivling' or 'lingam'.

In 2001, the then Director of the Nehru Memorial Library O P Kejariwal, told the publication, "If you draw a graph of human genius, James will head the list along with Leonardo da Vinci."