Leading Indian anthropologist NK Bose refuted such claims.
He wrote -"The (Bhaskareshvara) Lingam is made of fine-grained sandstone and doesn't bear the slightest trace of the Mauryan polish on its surface. That practically rules out possible Ashokan origin"
He wrote -"The (Bhaskareshvara) Lingam is made of fine-grained sandstone and doesn't bear the slightest trace of the Mauryan polish on its surface. That practically rules out possible Ashokan origin"
The point is that there is no consensus whether or not Bhaskareshvara temple was originally a Stupa. Hindus reused and worshiped Buddhist monuments in Andhra and Orissa. Even if Buddhism completely disappeared from collective knowledge, its objects were respected and worshiped
In Coastal Andhra region, Buddhist stupas are worshipped as Shiva Lingas long after Buddhism disappeared from the memory of natives. There is no deliberate intention of destruction or violation of sanctity. Nobody used Ashoka pillar on footsteps of temple
By violation of sanctity, I am referring to acts such as those mentioned in the attached tweets. Unless one could produce such examples, there is no scope of any equivalence
@DalrympleWill 2) It was a Shiva temple before its conversion to a Sufi Shrine. It is obvious that Hindu converts to Islam would retain some aspects of their former religious practice after conversion. But Islamic orthodoxy made sure these former practices were sanitized. That is the difference
@DalrympleWill 3)Even today, you can find millions of Hindus worshiping Buddha statues, Stupas, Ayakas and Ashokan pillars in one form or another. No orthodoxy tells them to abandon or destroy their objects of worship. Hence the extant use.
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