Recently, there have been many claims on social media that Muslim ruler Sikander Lodhi donated land to build Ravidas temple of Delhi.

How true are these claims? This thread is a fact check (1)

Here are some facts.

There is no record of Sikander Lodhi donating land to build Ravidas temple in literature: Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi or Punjabi.

In fact, there is no literary or epigraphic record of Sikander Lodhi donating land to any Hindu temple in India

While there is no evidence that Lodhi built any Hindu temple, there is plenty of evidence that Lodhi destroyed a lot of temples.

Afghan court historian Ahmad Yadgar writes that Sikander Lodhi destroyed tirtha of Kurukshetra and broke the idol of Goddess Jwalamukhi into pieces.

Similarly, Lodhi's contemporary Sufi historian Mushtaqi (c.1525 CE) writes that Lodhi broke the idol of Goddess Jwalamukhi. Weights were made out of that broken idol and given over to butchers.

He used to amputate the limbs of any Hindu who dared to go on Mathura pilgrimage.

Tabakat I Akbari also records that Sikander Lodhi destroyed Hindu temples in Madhya Pradesh. He destroyed temples even after the local besieged Rajas sued for peace. He broke down temples and built Mosques in their stead

Having established that Sikander Lodhi was a temple destroyer rather than temple maker, let us come back to his encounter with Ravidas.

Yes, Sikander Lodhi had a personal encounter with Dalit Guru Ravidas. However, he did not donate any land. Far from it, as we shall see below

The story of personal encounter of Guru Ravidas with Sultan Sikander Lodhi is recorded in Ravidas Ramayan,a 16th century text written by Dalit followers of Guru Ravidas. Screenshots produced below are excerpted from "Ravidas Ramayan"a published by Rupesh Thakur Prasad press(2013)

It all began in the court of Lodhi. A Sufi Pir told Sikander Lodhi a Hindu named Ravidas in Varanasi insulted Islam by saying that "Vedas are old and eternal, Islam is new".

This aroused the fury of Lodhi and he ordered Ravidas to present himself in the Sultan's court in Delhi

In his court, Lodhi told Ravidas- "Ravidas, God is not obtained by Vedic dharma. Vedic dharma preaches reincarnation which is the ideology of scoundrels.

Vedic Dharma is a crooked path. It has many sects and is very confusing. Vedic dharma is just a delusion of Kafir Hindus"

Sultan Sikander to Ravidas-" Vedic dharma is the religion of crooks. It will not give you Paradise.

Only Islam leads to Paradise.Anybody who refuses Islam enters hell.

Vedic dharma is like fetters. It is a disease. It only gives misery. It is not religion. It is madness"

Sultan Sikander Lodhi to Ravidas- "Give up this madness. Accept Islam. Leave the Vedic religion. Become a Muslim. Chant Quran. I will make you the chief Ulema of the empire. You will have all the power and money. People will fear you and you will be very famous and respectable"

Hearing these words of Sultan, Ravidas responded-"Vedic dharma is the greatest religion on earth.Great people bow their heads in reverence to it. Vedic hymns are Ambrosia.They purify a million sins. Veda is revealed by the Brahma himself.Veda is the sun which dispels darkness"

Ravidas continued-"Vedic dharma is complete and eternal. Only a crook insults Vedic dharma. Those who have no knowledge of Veda are unfortunate.

Quran asks for killing of living beings. It is a violent faith which only gives misery.But vedic religion says "ahimsa paramo dharma"

Ravidas continued- "Our vedic dharma is the greatest faith. I will give up my life but not Vedic dharma. You can behead me but you cant separate me from Veda

Vedic mantras lead to moksha.

I don't want your paradise which has alcohol and thousand Hoors. I wont leave my dharma"

After Ravidas publicly refused to accept Islam, Sultan Sikander imprisoned him and began torturing him. What subsequently happened to Ravidas is unknown. While some sources narrate his miraculous escape, others like Sukhasagar say he died of torture in prison.

But surely, Sikander Lodhi never donated any land to Ravidas. No source, either Islamic or Ravidasi, makes such a claim.

The temple is NOT 500 years old. Neither was its land given by Lodhi. It was constructed in 1959. This was revealed by the temple managers in Supreme Court

Before the temple was built in 1959, a small pond existed there. The land belonged to Govt of India

No record of existence of any Ravidas temple at that place in Tughlaqabad before 1959 in all extensive historical, contemporary, colonial and Governmental records from Delhi

To conclude,Lodhi never donated land to Guru Ravidas. He ordered Ravidas to present himself before court. When Ravidas presented himself, Lodhi forced him to accept Islam. On Ravidas' refusal, Lodhi imprisoned him and probably killed him.This temple was built in 1959 on Govt land

This fake myth of Sikander Lodhi donating land for Ravidas temple is not just found online. The fake story is also carried out by many mainstream news outlets like @timesofindia. Check the above tweets of this thread for a comprehensive fact check (h/t @RougePouts )