Anantnag: Defying objections from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), a Hindu right-wing group forcibly entered the ASI-protected Martand Sun Temple in Anantnag’s Rambirpora Mattan area on the same day as the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, various news organisations reported.
On January 22, members of a Hindu right-wing group from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, trespassed into the ASI-protected site to offer prayers, Kashmir Times reported.
After forcible entry, ASI staff prevented the group from sitting inside the ruins of the 8th-century temple dedicated to Hindu God Surya by King Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty, another report said.
The group unfurled a saffron flag inside the temple complex, chanted Hanuman Chalisa, and performed ‘Parikrama’ during their visit. This marked their third consecutive attempt since 2022, and the group is known as Rashtriya Anhad Mahayog Peeth.
The Martand Sun Temple is protected by ASI guidelines that prohibit prayers inside such sites unless they were functional prayer sites when ASI took charge.
In April last year, the same group attempted to perform ‘puja’ at the temple but was disallowed from entering, being detained at a Shiv temple in Mattan town near Martand.
