Petition claims Ajmer dargah was Shiva temple, demands ASI survey
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Jaipur: A petition claiming that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah was originally a “Shiva temple” and demanding an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the site was filed in a district court in Ajmer on Monday.
The petition was moved by Rajvardhan Singh Parmar, national president of the right-wing group Maharana Pratap Sena, before the court of the district judge. Parmar claimed that the site was a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and was later converted into a dargah.
“I have been raising this issue for a long time. Earlier, a petition was submitted to the President, which was forwarded to the Rajasthan Chief Secretary,” Parmar said, adding that the current plea seeks an ASI survey of the site.
Senior advocate A.P. Singh confirmed that the petition was filed on Monday and asserted that the structure dates back to ancient times as a Shiva temple.
This is not the first such plea related to the shrine. In 2024, Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta had filed a similar petition, claiming that the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was built over a Hindu temple and demanding that it be declared a temple.
The Ajmer Sharif Dargah is among the most revered Muslim shrines in India and is a prominent landmark in Ajmer. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, a Sufi saint from Persia, arrived in Ajmer in 1192 and lived there until his death in 1236 AD. The shrine housing his tomb was built by Mughal emperor Humayun in his honour.
During his reign, Mughal ruler Akbar undertook annual pilgrimages to Ajmer, while both Akbar and Shah Jahan later constructed mosques within the dargah complex.
With PTI inputs