The scenes will return, like deranged ghosts, to haunt those of us who were at the graveside to witness the burial of a secular dream. The screams of exultation with each blow of a pickaxe, each thrust of a rod, each dome that came crashing down. If there were no implements, the frenzied hordes would have used their bare hands to the same effect, so powerful was the poison that coursed through their veins in those few hours of madness.

There were others. The maniacal look in the eyes of the kar sevaks as they triumphantly held aloft Babar's bricks or smashed cameras, attacked journalists and taunted the bovine policemen. The provocative exhortations over the loudspeakers that rose even above the roar of the crowds. The forest of gleaming trishuls raised high in militant victory. And, the twin plumes that snaked to the skies: the dust from the demolished structure, and smoke from nearby Muslim houses torched in the orgasmic fever. Religion was their opium and it returned Ayodhya to the medieval ages.

Ultimately, it may have seemed like the pebble that started an avalanche, the lone man who broke through the security cordon, followed by ten others, and then hundreds and finally, thousands. But quite a few warning signs had been there earlier, as the initial trickle of kar sevaks swelled over the past three days, into close to two lakhs. Many of these were docilelooking sadhus and sants, pot-bellied shopkeepers from Delhi, rustics from Punjab and Haryana, excited students from Pune. There were, however, others, their number running into hundreds, who had come with one fanatical obsession-the destruction of the disputed Babri Masjid.

But even at the dawn of that Barbaric Sunday, few among the moderates or even the large media contingent believed that before sundown, and in the space of a few hours, the triple domes that loomed so securely on the horizon would be razed to the ground. The mood among the kar sevaks had been sullen but not overly aggressive and even the occasional outbursts of anger or militant slogans seemed like aberrations against the backdrop of the solemn rituals and the singing of bhajans. Kar sevaks were even frisked and made to pass through metal detectors before entering the temple area.

But the inaction of the past few days as they waited for D-Day, December 6, had made them restive. By December 5, the mood had started to change, the indecision of the leadership on whether to allow construction, had stirred the hornets' hive. Harcharan Singh, 32, a strapping kar sevak from Haryana echoed an increasingly held view when he flatly stated: "After all this if the leaders do not allow kar seva, they will face our 'maar seva' (beating)."

The afternoon of December 5 was the turning point. That was when it was finally announced that there would be a symbolic kar seva. Ayodhya simmered with suppressed anger and frustration. Hundreds of kar sevaks stormed the Maniram Chavani where two of the religious leaders-Mahant Ram Chandra Paramhans and Mahant Nrit Gopal Das-were subjected to a volley of angry questions. In the narrow, serpentine lanes of Ayodhy a, the slogans were becoming more menacing. "JisHindukakhoonnakhaula, khoonnahin wopaanihai" (If a Hindu's blood doesn't boil, then it's water, not blood). In the Karsevakpuram area, thousands converged to express their wrath against the leadership. The Frankenstein's monster had been born. And its creators were now its immediate victims.

Ashok Singhal, general secretary of the VHP, pleaded with the mahants to bridge the ominous chasm that had suddenly opened up between the Janki Mahal Trust-the camp headquarters of the leaders- and Karsevakpuram, where angry kar sevaks were clustered in open defiance. The mahants, sensing the ugly mood, stayed put. Only Vinay Katiyar, Bajrang Dal chief and Faizabad MP, dared to cross over to Karsevakpuram, where the hostile mob immediately surrounded him demanding that the leaders reconsider their decision of a symbolic kar seva. Katiyar's message about the militant mood was passed on to L.K. Advani and company. But by now, the movement had been clearly hijacked by the hotheads. As a worried Paramhans said:' 'Who except Ram Lalla can know about the kind of kar seva which will be undertaken tomorrow."

Sunday, December 6. The count down to disaster begins.

6 a.m. The steady stream of kar sevaks and journalists start arriving at the disputed shrine. Straddling the security wall were PAC constables armed with batons and RSS volunteers with armbands. Overnight, additional barricades encircling the 2.77acre plot had been erected. Most of the mediapersons gather around the platform constructed during the July kar seva, instead of the roof-top of Manas Bhavan, the official press enclosure.

10 a.m. Sadhus, mahants and various leaders including Advani and BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi arrive at the platform to review the arrangements for the 'symbolic' kar seva.

10.30 a.m. VHP and BJP leaders move to the dais at the Ram Katha Kunj, 200 yards away from the designated kar seva site, where they are scheduled to address a public meeting. The objective was to avoid the angry crowd building up at the kar seva site. Within a matter of minutes, small but defiant groups of kar sevaks start pushing at the security cordon surrounding the main entrance to the disputed area. The PAC jawans and RSS volunteers struggle to hold back the crowds.

11 a.m. The first of the kar sevaks break through the cordon. Within seconds, a few more follow as the barricades are breached in three places directly in front of the shrine. Solitary and shrill shouts of "Mandiryahin banayenge" (We'll build the temple at this very spot) puncture the atmosphere. The police are standing idle, but the RSS volunteers in charge of security continue to try and stop the kar sevaks, chasing them and even physically removing them from the secured platform area. Among the throng of mediapersons there is nervous laughter at the comical sight.

11.15 a.m. The kar sevaks had breached the barricades in at least half a dozen places but there is still no definite indication of an impending storm. Faizabad Superintendent of Police, D.B. Rai, tells the media contingent: "It is all under control. Go and relax, you are only wasting your time." So it seems.

11.35 a.m. The sadhus, headed by Mahant Paramhans and Nrit Gopal Das, are scheduled to start a puja ceremony on the newly-built platform. But elsewhere, the floodgates have opened. Towards the rear of the disputed structure, 50-odd kar sevaks slither across the security wall. As RSS volunteers and PAC personnel try to stop them, a hail of stones thrown by the crowds outside start raining down, providing effective cover to the handful of intruders.

11.40 a.m. A teenager scales the protective steel railing like a circus acrobat and, despite the steep angle, reaches the top of one of the three domes. The brickbatting becomes heavier and the police abandon their posts around the disputed structure. This provides the signal for hundreds of kar sevaks to break the outer cordon and charge towards the structure waving pickaxes, hammers, shovels and iron rods.

11.43 a.m. Three kar sevaks reach the base of the middle dome with a grappling hook attached to a long rope. After a couple of failed attempts, the trio manage to anchor the hook to a protruding iron rod atop the dome. As if they were trained mountaineers, they clamber up the rope and arrive at the top of the dome. It is 11.50 a.m. The mania that is to overwhelm them all has begun.

11.55 a.m. H. V. Seshadri, RSS general secretary appeals to the defiant kar sevaks in at least four or five different languages to stop the demolition and destruction. No one listens to him. His voice is barely audible over the chants of the crowd. Neither are the subsequent appeals issued by Advani and Singhal. The leaders have become the led.

12.05 p.m. All three domes are submerged under hundreds of kar sevaks carrying saffron flags which are victoriously planted on two of the domes. Hundreds more start attacking the base of the structure with pickaxes and iron rods. By now, the crowds have swarmed all over the site of the disputed structure, shouting in triumph and urging on the demolition squads. Clouds of dust envelop the turmoil below as the sea of saffron spreads all over like a victorious army. Senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, magistrates and police officers watch helplessly from the roof of a building on the western side of the disputed shrine. On other roof-tops, women kar sevaks wave saffron flags in encouragement and exultation.

12.15 p.m. Kar sevaks, wielding huge blacksmith's hammers, start the final onslaught on the three domes. Elsewhere, as if by pre-arranged strategy, kar sevaks start targeting journalists and photographers, beating them up and smashing their cameras. The frenzied and deliberate attack is unprecedented, leaving many with blood streaming from deep gashes, women with their clothes ripped and others with their purses snatched. The objective of terrorising mediapersons was clearly to prevent photographs being taken of the frenzied demolition operation.

12.25 p.m. The leaders make a desperate attempt to control the crowds. An announcement over the loudspeaker asks the kar sevaks to come back. It has no effect. A distraught Advani turns to Uma Bharati and asks her to make an appeal: "Ram bhakton se meri appeal hai ki kar seva ka samay hogaya. Aap apna netritwa ka palan karein aur wapas aajayen" (As the time for kar seva has passed, I appeal to the Ram bhakts to listen to their leaders and come back). As expected, the appeal goes unheeded. Instead, there is a clamour of voices, directing the kar sevaks to rush to the dome with chisels, hammers and sickles.

1.55 p.m. The first dome collapses in a cloud of dust along with approximately 25 kar sevaks who are buried in the debris. They are quickly extricated and press vehicles are forcibly comandeered to rush them m to the hospital.

3 p.m. Sadhvi Rithambara starts singing and dancing and, as if in a trance, repeats over and over again a mesmeric exhortation: "Ekdhakkaaurdo, BabriMasjid tor do" (Give another shove, and tear down the mosque). A village lad from Kanpur district rushes past with a piece of brick held aloft like a trophy. "These are Babar's bones," he shouts in unholy glee.

3.30 p.m. The second dome gives way under the ferocity of the onslaught. Only the central dome remains, surviving precariously with the two huge cavities on either side of its base visible clearly from even a mile away.

4 p.m. Further demolition is temporarily halted as local sadhus escort Mahant Paramhans to what remains of the sanctum sanctorum. The Ram Lalla idol placed there earlier is reverentially removed under the haze of dust that hangs in the surcharged air. Mingling with the dust are huge columns of smoke from spots where maddened kar sevaks have set fire to a couple of mosques and half-a-dozen Muslim houses in Ayodhya town.

4.15 p.m. Two poles are erected just outside the outer wall of the remaining dome. A huge stone boulder is placed over the spot from where the idols have been removed in order to mark it exactly.

4.49 p.m. Kar sevaks form a human chain and use long wooden poles to repeatedly attack at the base of the middle dome from two sides until it comes crashing down. VHP activists celebrate by taking out a procession.

A red cloud of dust settles on the rubble, all that remains of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid shrine. And, all that remains of the myth of Hindu tolerance.