During Mughal invasions, the priests buried the idols and inscriptions and many were drowned for safe keeping. As many rural areas are being developed, these are all coming out.
Current state is politics ( at least in the southern states) is such that all Hindu temples are under the control of the state. The corrupt ruling parties have claimed all the revenues and have appropriated land that used to belong to temples and were rented out for services. Temples used to run schools and fed the needy population as the land donated by the rulers and they were essentially outsourcing the work to the temples. This was interrupted during the 250 years of colonial rule when the British eliminated kingdoms.
Further complicating the issue are the other religionists of Islam and Christianity who have strong conversion agendas and are being funded by foreign interests.
For example. The issue of the WAQF board of Islam. Recently this came up in the news : [..]The Tamil Nadu Waqf Board has claimed ownership of the 1500-year-old Manendiyavalli Chandrashekhara Swami temple land. The temple has 369 acres of property in and around Tiruchenthurai village in the Tiruchi District of Tamil Nadu.[..]
How is it possible that a 1500 year old temple can be owned by a religious board that is younger than the temple?
And I found this article: https://organiser.org/2023/01/30/106679/bharat/106679/.. it was specific to that region but spoke about the WAQF Board.
And I had to learn what the WAQF board was and learn more from here:https://www.opindia.com/2022/09/waqf-boards-india-properties...
[..]The very literal meaning of Waqf is detention or confinement and prohibition. As per Islam, it is the property that is now available only for religious or charitable purposes, and any other use or sale of the property is prohibited. As per Sharia law, once Waqf is established, and the property is dedicated to Waqf, it remains as Waqf property forever.
Waqf means that the ownership of the property is now taken away from the person making Waqf and transferred and detained by Allah. As per Sharia, this property is now permanently dedicated to Allah, making Waqf irrevocable in nature.
‘Waqif’ is a person who creates a waqf for the beneficiary. As Waqf properties are bestowed upon Allah, in the absence of a physically tangible entity, a ‘mutawalli’ is appointed by the waqif, or by a competent authority, to manage or administer a Waqf.
The history of Waqf and Waqf Boards in India
In India, the history of Waqf can be traced back to the early days of the Delhi Sultanate when Sultan Muizuddin Sam Ghaor dedicated two villages in favour of the Jama Masjid of Multan and handed its administration to Shaikhul Islam. As the Delhi Sultanate and later Islamic dynasties flourished in India, the number of Waqf properties kept increasing in India.[..]
I am still diving into that rabbithole. And I don’t think it’s relevant to post here.
Back to the topic.. I would prefer if Hindu artifacts and texts and ancient Indian history remains hidden. It is not a safe space out there because even though India is allegedly a Hindu majority country, there are strong interests to wish to erase the Hindu identity of India and weaken the only polytheistic faith that managed to survive millennia.
In the article, there were artifacts that depicted Hindu Gods(Krishna, Balaram and Ekanamsa)but the word Hindu did not occur even once. Sadly, it only confirmed my suspicion that western academia wants to erase Hindu history.
