Bengal's Malda tense over Shivling installation near disputed 14th-century mosque

A Shiva Lingam installation near West Bengal's Adina Mosque has revived a long-running temple-mosque dispute, with Hindu groups claiming the site was once an Adinath Temple. Police have stepped up security, while the ASI officially recognises the 14th-century structure as a protected mosque.Adina Mosque (L); devotees gather near the mosque to install Shiva Lingam (R)Members of Hindu organisations and numerous devotees have thronged Malda in West Bengal to install a massive Shiva Lingam near the 14th-century Adina Mosque, reviving the 'mandir-masjid' debate.The event comes amid a long-running dispute over the Adina Mosque complex, with some Hindu organisations claiming that the ASI-protected site originally belonged to an ancient Adinath Shiva Temple.Organisers have claimed that the Shiva Lingam is being installed in compliance with the Calcutta High Court's directions, while expressing their intention to build an Adinath Temple at the site in the future.Police said annual worship is held at the site during the holy month of Shravan (July-August), and adequate security has been arranged to ensure that the event remains peaceful. With the BJP now in power in the state, the Malda Police is anticipating a large crowd and have deployed heavy security across the area to maintain law and order. "This temple is located about 50 to 60 metres away from the site. The puja is being organised there. As far as I know, this puja is held here every year. This time, it is being organised on a somewhat larger scale, but the puja is held every year during the month of Sawan," Malda Superintendent of Police Anupam Singh told India Today.Members of the Adinath Puratan Shiv Mandir committee recently performed a puja near the ASI-protected Adina Mosque in Pandua and announced that a 3.6-foot-high, 1.5-tonne Shiva Lingam brought from Tarakeswar in Hooghly district would be installed at a nearby temple during the ongoing month of Shravan, reported news agency PTI.The organisation also repeated its long-standing claim that the original Adinath Temple once stood at the site where the mosque now stands and said it would seek legal permission to eventually place the Shiva Lingam inside the protected monument. The renewed mobilisation has led the district administration to tighten security around the site. Malda district police have also issued a public advisory after reports on social media about proposed religious programmes there, reminding people that the monument is protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and warning that any unauthorised religious activity or attempt to alter the structure would invite strict legal action."We will conduct puja and install the Shiva Lingam inside our temple on Monday. The original Adinath Temple was demolished to construct the present mosque. We will follow the law and do not want any disturbance," Kajal Goswami, chief patron of the Adinath Puratan Shiv Mandir committee and a BJP leader, told PTI."We want to install the Shiva Lingam inside the mosque premises, but only after following due legal procedures and if a competent court permits it. We will not indulge in any unlawful activity," he added.The committee has said the existing Adinath Temple, about 100 metres from the mosque complex, is around 120 years old and that remnants of the original temple survive within the protected monument. Goswami also alleged that several Hindu and Buddhist motifs, apart from a Shiva Lingam, can be seen inside the mosque complex.The issue has gathered attention over the past year, with the BJP repeatedly questioning the monument's origins and seeking a fresh examination of its historical character. The matter first gained political prominence last year after Baharampur MP and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan visited the monument and posted photographs from the site on social media.The West Bengal BJP then said the structure was not a mosque but the historic Adinath Temple. The controversy later reached Parliament when BJP Rajya Sabha MP and state president Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the mosque had been built with materials taken from pre-existing Hindu and Buddhist structures. Referring to local traditions and historical accounts, he claimed the site had originally housed the Adinath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.Earlier this year, a public interest litigation was moved in the Calcutta High Court claiming that the Archaeological Survey of India had wrongly identified a protected monument as the Adina Mosque, citing the alleged presence of Hindu deities and iconography within the structure. The ASI, however, continues to officially identify the site as the Adina Mosque.According to the ASI, the monument was built in 1373 CE by Sultan Sikandar Shah, the son of Ilyas Shah, and is protected as a Monument of National Importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. The structure stands in Pandua, about 16 km north of Malda town, and is counted among the finest surviving examples of 14th-century Indo-Islamic architecture.The monument complex has 260 stone pillars and 387 domed bays, and was at one time regarded as the largest mosque in the Indian subcontinent. Though it was badly damaged in earthquakes and has remained abandoned since the 19th century, it continues to be one of West Bengal's most important medieval archaeological sites.A continuing point of dispute has been the carved Hindu imagery seen on parts of the basalt walls and doorways. Motifs identified as Shiva and Ganesh can be seen in sections of the structure, along with lotus and foliage designs associated with Hindu and Buddhist traditions.Architectural historians have generally connected these carvings to the reuse of materials from older structures, a practice seen in medieval construction. Scholars have also described the monument as showing a mix of Islamic and indigenous architectural traditions.While the ASI maintains that the protected site is the Adina Mosque, questions over the carved imagery and the source of the reused materials continue to be debated by historians and local groups.- EndsInputs from Milton Paul and PTIPublished By: Sayan GangulyPublished On: Jul 27, 2026 15:24 IST