MULTAN, Dec 3: The historic Perhaladpuri temple to the north of the shrine of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya has become a chapter of history as the Evacuee Trust Property Board, which looks after the religious places, has failed to re-construct or renovate it.

The residue of the temple is all the site has today with some of the relics lying scattered. The Perhaladpuri temple was where a large number of Hindus used to bathe in colours of festivity to mark the beginning of ‘holi’.

The temple was demolished nearly 14 years ago by angry mobs who exacted revenge of the demolition of the known Babri mosque on Dec 16, 1992, and today it stands as a shadow of its past needing immediate attention of the authorities concerned.

Javed Bashir, the administrator of the ETPB (Multan chapter), told Dawn that the matter of restoration of any religious place (including temples) fell in the domain of a branch called Shrines Evacuee Trust Board.

The board additional secretary Izhar Ahmad, however, parried questions posed by this correspondent and said he could answer any question to the temple issue after consulting the officials concerned. He was not available for comments thereafter.

According to a historian, Muneer Ahmad Bhutta, the historic temple was built by Perhalad Bhagat who was a sovereign of Kashapur (its present name is Multan) about 1550 BC. He says there were spacious avenues beneath the temple and a conical pillar was built that was equal to the altitude of the dome of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya’s shrine.

He recollects that a fair was celebrated in the temple every year by Hindus in Jeth — the third month of Hindu calendar. In 1860, the spire of the temple was elevated apparently to make the building more attractive. This incited Muslims because the spire exceeded in altitude the dome and that led to the first Hindu-Muslim clash.

According to the historian, the Hindu community in Multan has asked several times the higher-ups of the ETPB to rejuvenate the temple, but to no avail.

Prof Dr Sharif Sialvi, head of the Bahauddin Zakariya University’s Islamic Studies Department, said the restoration of any religious place for non-Muslims would be acceptable to Muslims as “there is nothing wrong in allowing non-Muslims to worship in an Islamic state.”