The advocate representing the deity Ram Lalla in the Ayodhya case continued to argue in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, citing more evidence to suggest that a temple existed at the disputed site in the past. CS Vaidyanathan claimed that artefacts and records clearly pointed to the fact that the site was Ram’s birthplace, Bar and Bench reported.

Referring to a report by the Archaeological Survey of India, Vaidyanathan said the temple in Ayodhya was destroyed to build a mosque, according to PTI. He said the report referred to figures of crocodiles and tortoises, which were alien to the Islamic culture.

This was the eighth day of the hearing, which started on August 6 after a mediation effort by a court-appointed panel failed to achieve a result last month. The bench comprises Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer.

Vaidyanathan showed the court documents about a 12th-century stone slab with a Sanskrit inscription that was recovered from the site, according to Bar and Bench. He said the verses on the slab mentioned a Vishnu temple that was built in Ayodhya. The disputed structure was put in place either on the ruins of the temple or by pulling it down, the advocate claimed.

On the previous day of hearing on Friday, Vaidyanathan had said that ownership cannot be claimed on a place just because one offers prayers there. He had told the court that photographs of the site depicted sculptures and structures that showed evidence of a temple because mosques do not have images of deities and it is against Islamic belief. Vaidyanathan had claimed that there never was a mosque at the site.

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