MP High Court Recognises Bhojshala as Temple, Says Muslims May Seek Mosque Land Elsewhere

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday ruled that the disputed Bhojshala complex in Dhar district is a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati , bringing a major legal turn to a decades-old dispute over the religious character of the ASI-protected monument.

The Indore bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi held that the religious nature of the complex indicates it is a temple of Vagdevi, or Goddess Saraswati . The court also scrapped the April 7, 2003 Archaeological Survey of India order , which had allowed Hindus to worship at the site every Tuesday and Muslims to offer namaz there every Friday.

The court said the Centre and the ASI may decide on the administration and management of the complex. It also observed that if the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society seeks land for construction of a mosque in Dhar district, the state government may consider such a request.

The Bhojshala dispute centres on competing religious and historical claims. The Hindu side has long maintained that the monument is an ancient Saraswati temple and Sanskrit learning centre , associated with the reign of the Parmar kings of Dhar . The Muslim side refers to the structure as the Kamal Maula Mosque , while a Jain petitioner has claimed that the site was originally a medieval Jain temple and gurukul.

According to historical accounts cited during the dispute, the mosque is generally associated with the early 14th century , after Dhar came under Delhi Sultanate influence. The ASI’s position, however, was that an earlier structure from the Paramara period existed at the site before the present building, and that temple components were reused in later construction.

The High Court had ordered the ASI to conduct a scientific survey of the complex on March 11, 2024 . The survey began on March 22 and continued for 98 days , after which the ASI submitted an over 2,000-page report to the court on July 15 . The report indicated that a massive pre-existing structure, dating back to the Paramara era, predated the mosque and that the current structure was built using repurposed temple material.

Hindu petitioners argued that coins, sculptures and inscriptions found during the survey supported their claim that Bhojshala was originally a temple. The Muslim side rejected the report as “biased”, but the ASI told the court that the survey involved experts, including three from the Muslim community.

The bench began regular hearings on April 6 this year on five petitions and one writ appeal, and reserved its verdict on May 12 after hearing Hindu, Muslim and Jain claimants.

Ahead of the judgment, nearly 1,200 police personnel were deployed around the complex. Dhar Collector Rajeev Ranjan Meena warned of strict action against provocative social media posts as the verdict coincided with Friday prayers.