The book, titled "Anatomy of a Confrontation: Ayodhya and the Rise of Communal Politics in India" by historian Sarvepalli Gopal, says that the 1855 confrontation was not for Ram temple at Babri Masjid-Janmasthan site.
It states that the conflict was over the Hanuman Garhi temple near the disputed site and the last Nawab of Awad Wajid Ali Shah saved the temple from a band of Sunni Muslim fighters in 1855.
The defeat of Muslims in Awadh ruled by the Nawabs led to anger among the Muslims, both Sunni and Shia. The clerics issued fatwas asking Nawab Wajid Ali Shah "to punish the 'wickedness' and 'enormities' of the infidels." The situation was tense and more communal clashes looked imminent.
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah responded with an appeal for peace and constituted a three-member committee of enquiry, consisting of a Muslim, a Hindu and representative of the British in order defuse the tension.
The committee found that there was no mosque at the place of Hanuman Garhi, "at least in the past twenty-five to thirty years, and most probably there never had been one." The report led to resentment among the Muslims and another cleric Maulvi Amir Ali Amethavi launched a movement to reclaim the Hanuman Garhi temple.
