Why Sambhal Matters

THE TAKEOVER and attempted recovery of the Sambhal shrine has a symbolic meaning, much beyond the immediately political. The so-called Shahi Jama Masjid, a protected structure under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1904, should actually be a heritage site controlled by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Instead, it has been a functioning mosque for over a century.

The dispute arose because a local court permitted a survey of the mosque, which was resisted by a group of Muslims, backed, no doubt, by political and other vested interests. ASI began its survey in November 2024. Then, when they went again to drain the ablution tank of the mosque protests erupted. In the clashes between the police protecting the surveyors and the protestors, there was stone pelting from the latter and firing from the former. Five people died. The advocate commissioner appointed by the court submitted a sealed survey report which was suspected to contain evidence of a prior Hindu temple on the premises of the mosque. The Supreme Court halted the trial proceedings and granted permission to the mosque committee to challenge the order of the lower court in the Allahabad High Court.

The background to the dispute is the claim that this is the oldest surviving Moghul-era structure dating back to 1526, supposedly built by Babur. But this claim is also not without its detractors. Many have argued that in terms of its architectural style, the mosque seems much more recent, built no later than the 18th century. Therefore, the Sambhal mosque, too, is seen as an instance of land grab disguised by manufactured history.

But it is not its historicity nor its alleged usurpation, from being a protected monument to a mosque open for daily use and worship which is at the root of the dispute. Few would also be surprised if several remains or ruins of Hindu deities and objects of worship are found on or underneath the premises. Many of the older mosques in the Indian subcontinent, as is well known, were built on the sites of temples and places of worship or built extensively with the remains or upon the ruins of earlier sacred structures. This was standard operating procedure for Muslim conquerors all over the world. Nor, we must remember, was it confined to Muslims alone. Conquering Christian armies in both the old and new world also destroyed pagan places of worship, using their remains to build cathedrals or churches.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise if the Sambhal Friday Mosque was once a Hindu temple or is built upon the remnants of one. That is not the real issue, in my view. Then what is? To me, the Sambhal dispute is not so much about the past, as in the case of Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Gyanvyapi in Varanasi, or Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura. Instead, Sambhal is about the future. How? Because it is believed to be the future birthplace of the avatar of the future, Kalki.

The extraordinary thing about Hindu belief is just how time-conscious it is, even if it is essentially ahistoric. Babur is a historical figure in the manner in which Sri Rama cannot be. Yet, it is the myth, legend, or “history” (Itihasa) of Sri Rama’s birth in Ayodhya that has much more value in the Hindu mind than whatever depredations Babur could have wreaked upon the land of Sri Rama’s supposed birth. History is the aberration; mythos, if we can call faith that, the higher reality and truth.

Similarly, but in a sense much more spectacularly,Sambhal is about the divine avatar, Kalki, yet to come. A dispute over something that is yet to occur?

That, to me, is what makes the Hindu belief system extraordinary. It represents the claim on the future by Sanatana Dharma, the belief in the certainty of redemption in times to come, even if the present is miserable and degraded. Sanatanis, in other words, are actually fighting to keep hope alive in Sambhal. And their conquerors, the invading Islamists? They wanted to destroy not just the past of Hindu gods, but also rob the conquered of hope in the future. They knew how absolutely to deny the possibility of any kafir belief system, past, present, or future.

Sambhal, then, is about the resistance to such denial. It is a symbol not just of the insistence on pluralism and polytheism, but also on many different ways of conceiving of time itself than the only one version sanctioned by those in power. Sambhal, to put it a bit provocatively— the provocation being intellectual rather than political—is about not just the future of faith but a faith in futurology itself.

Futurology, we know, is not a science. Nor is it an art, or artifice, like fortune telling. Much less is it necromancy or astrology. Futurology is the serious study of the future. But not in a simplistic chronological sense. It is the attempt to understand the human condition, past, present, and future, the possibilities and the prospects of survival and flourishing of life on earth and elsewhere. It is, in that sense, nothing less than the cartography of cognition, the adventure of consciousness.

From the standpoint of a burgeoning academic discipline, futurology or future studies is an interdisciplinary field that systematically explores predictions and possibilities about the future. Futurology demands a multidisciplinary approach. It draws from various fields like philosophy, literature, anthropology, sociology, economics, history, mathematics, statistics, physics, technology, and medicine to predict and analyse future trends, scenarios, and potential outcomes.

Futurology entails scenario planning. Futurologists often engage in creating different scenarios that might unfold based on current trends, helping organisations and societies to prepare for various possible futures. It also involves long-term thinking. Futurology thus encourages thinking beyond immediate future concerns to decades or even centuries ahead, promoting strategic planning for long-term sustainability or innovation.

Mathematical modeling and probabilistic forecasting, including risk analyses, are also a part of futurology. But rather than making definitive predictions, futurologists often deal in prospects and likelihoods. Futurology also involves ethical debates about how technology and government should be developed or how societies should evolve. Futurology, therefore, necessitates ethical and philosophical considerations, which we might argue form an integral part of any religious ideology, including Sanatana Dharma.

The essence of futurology lies in its mission to try to understand the future seriously It transcends the mere passage of time or chronological prediction. It delves into the “why” and “how” of human development, survival, and flourishing. By examining current trends in technology, sociology, economics, politics, and the environment, futurology poses questions about where these trends might lead us. It’s about understanding the implications of our actions today on the lives of future generations, not just in terms of physical survival but in terms of quality of life, ethical considerations, and the expansion of consciousness.

When it comes to the latter, futurology engages with how our collective and individual consciousness evolves, what new forms of consciousness might emerge (like artificial intelligence and sensation), and how we might enhance our cognitive and existential boundaries.

Our attempt may be to map the human condition at the current inflection or crisis point. Delving into what it means to be human in different future scenarios, exploring issues like identity, ethics, mortality, and the quest for meaning in an ever-changing world. We might focus not just on survival but flourishing.

From such a point of view, rather than a religious dispute about the past, Sambhal is about opening up instead of negating the possibility of Indian and planetary futures. It is not just that those who live by the sword must also die by the sword. But those who deny others and themselves the possibility of alternate pasts and futures will also find their own belief systems becoming obsolete or imploding under the impact of irresistible realities.

The idea of Kalki is the opposite of that of the last prophet and the end of prophecy. In being always a promise in the future, like the messiah of the Jews or al-Mahdi, the Imam of the Shias who is yet to come, or Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be, or even the revolution as the end of history, Kalki, whether to appear in Sambhal or elsewhere, stands for the possibility that cannot be denied. After all, Kali Yuga, the present degenerate age, cannot last forever.

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