Excavations have been recently undertaken by the ASI at two distinct spots. At one point, outside the main mosque and Akbar's palace-complex, digging has been done to unearth a ruined structure identified as a temple, near which are stated to have been found parts of Jaina images of the 9th century inside a pit. Certain old Muslim graves are said to have been dug up in order to carry out these excavations. Since no mosque or any other Mughal-period structure was built over the temple, there is no proof at all that the temple or images were destroyed or damaged by Akbar, while building Fatehpur Sikri, or by Aurangzeb. And yet statements to this effect are being made in the press.

It is unfortunate that Mr. B.R. Grover, who occupies the office of Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, should make use of the occasion to rush to the press to assert that Aurangzeb was the author of the destruction. It may be remembered that at least six or seven hundred years separated the Mughal rulers from the period that the Jaina images are assigned to. Moreover, it is being forgotten that inter-communal disputes have by no means been confined to Hindus and Muslims alone. A large, newly built Jaina temple at Ujjain was forcibly occupied by Saivites and the Jaina images thrown out during the reign of Daulat Rao Sindhia.

The discovery of the Jaina images is being confused with the so-called "discovery" of a structure below Anup Talao in the palace-complex. That Akbar had built a structure below the tank was widely known from a passage in the contemporary historian Badauni's Muntakhabu-t Tawarikh. Bib. Ind.ed., II, pp.273 (translation in Michael Brand and Glenn D. Lowry, Fatehpur-Sikri -- A Source Book, Cambridge, Mass, USA, 1985). The ASI did not need to dig up any part of the Anup Talao to confirm an already established fact. We endorse the statement of Mr. M.C. Joshi, former Director General, ASI, that an "established antiquity" like Akbar's Anup Talao should not have been disturbed in this manner. We are dealing here with one of the great monuments of this country, recognised by the UNESCO as part of World Heritage, and such a monument should be preserved, as far as possible, as its builder Akbar had left it.

It needs also to be clarified that what the ASI found below Anup Talao is a structure clearly built by Akbar and in line with the style of the palace complex. Such clarification is necessary because of the apparent confusion in some circles that Jain images were recovered from this excavation.