Hindu group brings Shivling from Tarakeswar, consecrates it within 50 yards of 14th-century Adina Masjid | Kolkata News

A 3.5-foot stone Shivling brought from Tarakeswar was taken to a temple near the ASI-protected Adina Masjid in Malda

MALDA: A 3.5-foot stone Shivling was brought from Tarakeswar to a temple merely 50 yards from the 14th-century Adina Masjid in Malda on Monday, attracting controversy, a heavy deployment of police and a crowd of devotees.Members of Hindu Suraksha Samiti had announced the plan to bring the Shivling on Saturday.Thousands of Hindu devotees gathered at Adina on Monday to offer prayers to Lord Shiva on an auspicious day in the Bengali month of Shravan, when Shiva devotees, particularly women observing fasts, pour water and milk on a Shiva Linga.The gathering drew added attention after Hindu Suraksha Samiti announced plans to install a new Shiva Linga at the temple.A procession carrying the Shivling reached Adina around 12.30 pm. By then, a large crowd had gathered to offer puja to the deity.Some claimed they had been waiting since the night before.Since the approach road runs close to the ASI-protected mosque complex, police regulated the movement of devotees and vehicles.Cops were deployed inside and outside the monument premises, entry was allowed only after checking, and drones were used for surveillance.Malda SP Anupam Singh said, “We made security arrangements for the entire event as well as for the protection of the ASI site.”Hindu Suraksha Samiti state president Abhijit Das said, “We never wanted to create any law-and-order problem. We performed our rituals at the place specified by the administration.”Meanwhile, Kajal Gowami of the Adinath Temple Committee claimed there was evidence that Adina Masjid was once a temple.“We will present our case before the high court and the Union govt,” Gowami said. Some devotees, in fact, said they wanted the Shivling to be taken inside the mosque complex and consecrated there.The Adina Masjid, situated around 20 km from English Bazaar, was built by Sultan Sikandar Shah between 1364 and 1374 AD.The vast rectangular hypostyle structure, spread over nearly 12.5 bigha, has often been compared with the Great Mosque of Damascus.