Race on to claim legacy of Lord Ram

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) "We are the descendants of Lord Ram." The chorus of this claim is just growing by the day, cutting across party lines.

Interestingly, these claims have found voice against the backdrop of the Supreme Court's poser whether any descendants of Lord Ram was still around and if any of them are still in Ayodhya, believed to be his birth place.

A five-judge Constitution bench, which is conducting day-to-day hearing into the highly sensitive Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, posed these questions to senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for 'Ram Lalla Virajman' on August 9.

The questions were posed by the bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, when Parasaran argued that the deity and Lord Ram's birth place were both "juristic" entities and thus capable of holding properties and filing lawsuits.

'Ram Lalla Virajman', the presiding deity of the makeshift temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, is one of the litigants in the dispute.

The Supreme Court has speeded up the judicial process to find a resolution to the vexed and decades-old issue which has huge political ramifications since it is a religiously-emotive issue.

"Yes, descendants of Lord Ram are all over the world, including our family who descended from his son Kush," tweeted BJP MP from Rajsamand Diya Kumari, answering questions raised by the top court.

"My family is the descendant of Lord Rama. My father was the 309th descendant of Lord Rama. We have documents that show that we descended from Kush, Lord Rama's son. We belong to the Kushwaha or the Kachhawa clan," added Kumari, who hails from the royal family of Jaipur.

Kumari says her claim is based on manuscripts and documents available with her family.

Arvind Singh Mewar, erstwhile royal from Udaipur, soon joined Kumari in claiming that he belonged to Lord Ram's clan.

"It is historically proven that my family is direct descendants of Shree Ram. We do not wish to stake any claim on Ram Janma Bhumi but believe that Shree Ram Temple must be built at Ram Janma Bhumi in Ayodhya," he tweeted.

Mewar scion Vishvaraj Singh said, "I do state with conviction that my family had descended from Ikshvaku to Lord Ram. This is also the accepted belief of many. The old and new textbooks of history, our elders and those families staying here for years claim the same."

Next in league was Rajasthan Congress spokesperson Satendra Raghav who also came into the picture, saying he was from Lord Ram's clan. He said, "The Raghav Rajputs are the real descendants of Ram."

In a Facebook post, Raghav cited Valmiki's Ramayana for his claim, saying his family, belonging to Alwar 'thikana' (royalty), are of the Badgurjar Gotra which sprang up in third generation of Luv, another son of Lord Rama.

"The kingdom of Luv spread towards North Kaushal which comes under Ayodhya now while Kush spread his empire in South Kaushal which comes under Chhattisgarh. On page 1,671 of the 'Ramayana', it is said that Badgujar clan came from Luv," said Raghav, a relative of late former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

However, he also claimed that princess Diya Kumari's claims are not true.

On the other hand, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, patron of Karni Sena, also claimed that his family came from Lord Ram's lineage.

"What Diya (Kumari) is saying is true. Raghav is making it a Congress Vs BJP fight here by annulling Diya's claim. We need to believe that Kuchhwahas came from Kush, Rama's younger son while Sisodiyas, whom we belong, came from Luv, another son of Ram. We have strong proof for the same, he added.

Later, State Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas also joined the bandwagon saying, "We are Suryavanshi Rajputs who are known to be the descendants of Lord Ram. No one should have any second thoughts about it. We are descendants of Lord Ram's son Kush."

"Rajawat, Shekhawat and Kuchhwah are all descendants of Lord Ram. The Kushwah clan representing Suryavanshi Rajput were called as Kucchwah", he added.

Meanwhile, there is also one Vimlendra Mohan Prasad Misra, a descendant of the rulers of Ayodhya who is popularly known as 'Ayodhya naresh' (king of Ayodhya), but he is not a descendant of Lord Ram. Lord Ram was a Thakur while Misra is a Brahmin.

Misra vehemently plays down his royal lineage because he has interest in politics. He refuses to be photographed in his royal attire and insists that he is as common as others.

He has kept himself out of Ayodhya's temple politics, which his supporters say is a well-thought out decision because he is held in high esteem by both Muslims and Hindus and he does not wish to antagonize either of the communities by taking sides.

While the Supreme Court continues hearing in the Ayodhya dispute, one has to see whether there are any more claimants to Lord Ram's clan.