On Monday, some activists petitioned the Deputy Commissioner of Mandya for permission to worship the Anjaneya idol in the Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna, Karnataka.

According to the proponents, the structure was previously a temple that had been converted into a mosque. They asked that they be allowed to do pooja in the mosque.

The Narendra Modi Vichar Manch claims the Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna was erected on the site of a Hanuman temple during Tipu Sultan’s reign. C T Manjunath, Manch state secretary, was part of the group that met with the deputy commissioner of Mandya district on Saturday and presented a memorandum allowing Hindus to perform pooja inside the Jamia Masjid, popularly known as Masjid-i-Ala.

Tipu Sultan was one of the most ruthless Islamic invaders in South India. There have been several recorded instances of Tipu’s army forcefully converting, raping, and kidnapping Hindus on his orders.

Many temples are recorded to have been demolished under his reign. Historians such as Khan Hussain Ali Kirmani have pointed out that Tipu Sultan had animosity for the local Hindus and tribals in the area. 

Manjunath said, “The documentary evidence of Tipu writing to a ruler in Persia admitting that there was Hanuman temple and the mosque where Hindu inscriptions on its pillar and walls support our stand.” “We requested them to open the mosque’s doors to offer prayers,” he further added.

According to Rishi Kumar Swami of Kali Mutt, the Jamia mosque was erected on the site of an ancient Hanuman temple.

He said that the masjid was erected after the Hanuman Mandir was destroyed in 1784. According to him, the Hanuman temple was turned into a mosque during the Tipu Sultan era, and symbols of the old Hoysala empire may have been unearthed within.

The mosque is located within the Srirangapatna Fort, which was erected under the Vijayanagar Empire and afterward taken over by Tipu Sultan.

He constructed the mosque near his palace. The mosque was constructed in the early 1780s and is now a historic monument managed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It also operates a madrassa.

This comes after a Shivling was reportedly unearthed inside the wuzukhana of the Gyanvapi mosque during the court-ordered survey of the disputed structure adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. After the Shivling was found during the survey, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar ordered the disputed Gyanvapi building to be sealed.