The 1975 Ayodhya Excavations: B.B. Lal and the Historians
In 1975, archaeologist Professor B.B. Lal began the Archaeology of Ramayana Sites project for the Archaeological Survey of India, studying places linked to the Ramayana, including Ayodhya. Just outside the compound wall of the Babri Masjid, his team found evidence of an earlier structure. Decades later, this evidence became central to the Ayodhya dispute.
This documentary looks at how Marxist historians responded to the evidence, first arguing the mosque was built on virgin ground, then that any earlier structure was not a temple, and how their position shaped the long fight over Ayodhya.
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