Gorakhnath temple has a recorded history of at least 800 years. The temple existed even before Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah was born in the 18th century. It was believed to be established by Gorakhnath himself. Whatever the case, the temple was already destroyed by Ala-ud-din Khilji in the 13th century, meaning it had already existed by then.
Far from being built on the land donated by Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah, the Gorakhpur Imambada itself was built on a destroyed temple site.
Following Cunnigham’s Archaeological survey of India, Sita Ram Goel lists the Imambada among former temple sites in his book “Hindu temples”.
lthough the Shia Nawab Asaf Ud Daulah ruled Awadh, his heart was beating for Iraq.
He siphoned off millions of local taxpayer money to develop Iraq. He used taxpayer money to make Iraq deserts bloom for the convenience of Shia Pilgrims! This is a LARGE sum amounting to 40% of revenue.
There is not a SINGLE record/inscription which indicates that Nawab donated land for Gorakhpur temple. The only “source” for this claim is a recently fabricated spurious local myth that the Nawab met Gorakhnath. This is false since Gorakhnath lived hundreds of years before the Nawab.
The above screenshots have been excerpted from the book “Roots of North Indian Shiism in Iran and Iraq” by JRI Cole (University of California Press 1988)
True Indology 