All the historians of the Mughal era have written that after the destruction of the main pagoda of Kashi, the invaders tried to take the Shivalinga, which looked like a precious stone, with them. Despite all the efforts, he could not move the Shivling from its original place. Finally left the Shivling and went away with all the treasure.
Why all his efforts to take the Shivling with him failed, the answer is found in the 21st verse of the 22nd chapter of the Shiva Mahapuran. These days, Prof of History Department in BHU who is doing special study of Puranas. Pravesh Bharadwaj has done. Pro. According to Bhardwaj, history is witness that Qutubuddin Aibak, Razia Sultan, Sikandar Lodi and Aurangzeb caused tremendous damage to the temples of Kashi. Everyone also attacked the main pagoda of Kashi in their respective times. Looted the treasure of the temple but could not take Shivling with him even after lakhs of efforts. The Shivling did not budge from its place because it was following the orders of Shiva. There is a verse in Shivamahapurana – ‘Avimuktam swayam lingam established paramatmana. Not maybe tyajyamind kshetraam mamanshakam.’
Pt. Brahmanand Tripathi has explained this verse – ‘Shivling cannot go outside Kashi because Shiva himself established a Shivling named Avimukt. Shiva ordered that the Jyotirlinga belonging to me, you should never leave this area.’ Saying this, Devadhidev Mahadev installed this Jyotirlinga in Kashi through his trident.
Watson said in 1810, hand over the Hindus
The British magistrate Watson had said in the ‘Vice President of the Council’ on 30 December 1810 that the Gyanvapi complex should be handed over to the Hindus forever. There are temples of Hindu gods and goddesses everywhere in that complex. The existence of a mosque in the middle of the temples is a proof that that place also belongs to the Hindus. Then the British government did not listen to its officer. Even after 212 years of that episode, both the sides stand firm on their respective claims regarding the Gyanvapi complex.
According to a study conducted in the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archeology of BHU, in the year 1809, Hindu-Muslims had come face to face over Gyanvapi. During that time, the Hindus had captured the Gyanvapi Mosque in a fierce struggle. Then the Governor of Bengal had sought full details of the case from Watson, the then magistrate of Banaras. Watson had said that this is certainly the place of the Hindus. About 126 years later, on August 11, 1936, the State Council, Anjuman Inazaniya Masjid Committee and Sunni Central Waffle Board filed a petition. The case was dismissed in 1937. The matter, which lasted for five years, went to the High Court in 1942. There also the claims of the Muslim side were rejected.