The Babri Mosque (also Babri Masjid) was a mosque constructed by the Muslim emperor of India Babur in Ayodhya in the 16th century. It was alleged that Babur destroyed an existing temple at the site, which Hindus believe was the temple built to commemorate the birthplace of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu and ruler of Ayodhya.

The mosque had been used by Muslims as a prayer site for hundreds of years. In 1949, Hindu activists who wished to see it replaced with a Rama temple broke in and placed statues of Rama inside the mosque. Following this, the state government ordered the mosque sealed.

In 1986 the mosque was reopened by a lower court at the request of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, "World Hindu Council") to allow Hindus to worship there.

In 1990, Lal Krishna Advani, a top member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began a campaign tour (a rathayatra, or "chariot-journey") to build support for a Rama temple at the mosque site. The VHP also negotiated with the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC), an organisation created to represent the interests of Muslims in the mosque, over the site, each presenting evidence to the court of their claims to the site.

The mosque was destroyed on December 6, 1992, by a crowd of nearly one million activists (karsevaks) of the VHP and other associated groups. The destruction occurred at the end of Advani's rathayatra, and there is some evidence that it was pre-planned by Hindu nationalist groups.

Following the destruction of the mosque, communal riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims across India, including in Mumbai (Bombay), which was a largely secular and cosmopolitan city. It is generally accepted that the campaign to build the Rama temple and the destruction of the mosque was responsible for the BJP's meteoric rise to power.

Since then, the AIBMAC has been campaigning to have the mosque rebuilt at the same site, while the VHP has been moving forward with plans to build a Rama temple there. In December 2002 the VHP announced that it would construct the temple in a year and a half (i.e., mid 2004).

After a study the Archaeological Survey of India on August 25, 2003, produced a controversial report that stated, from digging and studies of materials and layers under the since destroyed mosque, there was evidence of a large Hindu temple having pre-existed the Babri mosque. The ASI report mentions a huge structure (11-12th century) on which a massive structure, having a huge pillared hall (or two halls), with at least three structural phases and three successive floors attached with it was constructed later on. "There is sufficient proof of existence of a massive and monumental structure having a minimum of 50 x 30 metre in north-south and east-west directions respectivley just below the disputed structure," claims the report. However many Muslim groups such as the Sunni Central Wakf Board dispute the findings.

On the question whether Babri Masjid stands at the site of the alleged Ram Janam Bhoomi temple, it is to be noted the renowned historian and son of former president Sarvepally Radhakrishnan, Prof. S. Gopal, in a lecture delivered in Madras in May 2004, said, "So far no evidence has been found to support the claim the Babri Masjid was constructed on the land that had been earlier occupied by a temple." He asserted, "In Ayodhya to-day there are still about 30 places where Rama was claimed to have been born." It is also to be noted that diggings in the vicinity of the masjid proved futile and no remains of any temple have ever been found.

See also: Ayodhya, Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindutva, All India Babri Masjid Action Committee, Babur, Mogul Empire

• Summary Of Archaelogical Evidence of the Existence of Ram Janma Bhoomi
• Ayodhya: Question of History -By K.P. Prakasam
• Critique of the archaeology at the site