Hindu Temples converted into Mosques

A furlong beyond the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti is the triple temple complex built by an ancestor of Prithviraj Chauhan. The complex is, for the last 800 years, popularly known as "Adhai Din Ka Jhopra" (the shed of two and a half days). So called, because the triple or three temples were converted into a Masjid over only two and a half days. After the second battle of Tarain in 1192 AD, in which Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri defeated and killed Prithviraj Chauhan, the victor passed through Ajmer. He was so awed by the temples that he wanted them destroyed and replaced instantly. He asked Qutbuddin Aibak, his slave general, to have the needful done in 60 hours time so that he could offer prayers in the new masjid on his way back.

Another view of the complex.

The Gazetteer of Jaunpur district dated 1908, written by H.R. Nevill, the district collector of Jaunpur, confirms that the temple was demolished by Ibrahim Naib Barbak, the brother of Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq who erected the Jhanjharimasjid in honour of a saint called Hazrat Ajmali. Not far from Jhanjhari is what is popularly known as the Atala Devi masjid. On two sides, in front of this rectangular edifice, are rows of two-storeyed cloisters. Opposite the mosque is also a similar cloister, which now houses a madrassa. According to the gazetteer, there stood an equally large temple built by Raja Vijaya Chandra of Kannauj, the father of Jaichand. Khwaja Kamal Khan demolished the temple in 1364 AD and Ibrahim completed the mosque in 1408 AD.

Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, 1526-37, was the iconoclast of Vidisha, preceding Aurangzeb. He captured the town and about the first thing he did was to desecrate the Vijay Mandir claiming that the conquest of Bhilsa was in the service of Islam. The episode is recorded in Mirat-I-Sikndri. About 200 years earlier, Sultan Alauddin Khilji, 1293, had also enjoyed the "devout" pleasure of damaging Vijay Mandir. The honour of being the first iconoclast, went to Sultan Shamsuddin Iitutmish, 1234, yet another half a century earlier. This episode is described with relish in Tabqat-I-Nasiri. Not many temples have had the misfortune of having been desecrated four times. Being a huge structure, built in solid stone, it was able to survive and be restituted a mandir, three times.