A mosque in Ayodhya, believed to have been built on the site where a Hindu god was born, has been a flashpoint for religious tensions in India for hundreds of years.
Ayodhya is an ancient city in the northern Indian district of Uttar Pradesh. The district is the most populous in India, with 190 million residents. Around 80 per cent of the state practices the Hindu faith.
Hindus believe the city of Ayodha was the birthplace of the god Sri Rama.
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In 1528, the Babri mosque was built on a site in Ayodhya that Hindus say was the foundations of a temple which was the actual location of Lord Rama's birth.
Hindus accuse the mosque's builders of tearing down the original temple in order to build it.
An archaeological survey ordered by an Indian court confirmed evidence of a pre-existing temple at that location.
Since then, debate has raged over who ownership of the site. The original mosque was a place of worship for both Hindus and Muslims.
In 1859, increased tensions led the British government to build a fence to divide the mosque into an inner and outer section. Only Muslims were allowed into the inner court.
The site became a sectarian flashpoint, with both Hindus and Muslims staking their claims on it.
In November 1992, right-wing Hindu nationalists staged a 150,000-strong rally at the mosque. The rally turned into a riot, and the mosque was torn down in the process. The violence sparked nationwide riots, which killed more than 2,000 people.
The Indian Government subsequently set up a commission to examine the site. It is the longest-running commission in Indian history, and has been granted 48 different extensions by various administrations.
Tens of thousands of police were deployed ahead of the release of a court ruling on the site.
