Ayodhya
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- This article is about the Indian city; see Ayutthaya for the Thai city, province and ancient kingdom.
Ayodhya (Devanāgarī: अयोध्या, IAST Ayodhyā) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Under the British Raj the city and the administrative area around it was called Oudh. It is on the right bank of the river Sarayu, 555 km east of New Delhi. The word ayodhya is Sanskrit for "not to be warred against". Some Puranas like the Brahmanda Purana (4/40/91) consider Ayodhya as one of the six holiest cities.
In the first few centuries of the Common Era it was caled Śāketa. Śāketa, or Shaqi (沙奇) was conquered by the great Kushan / Yuezhi Emperor Kanishka c. 137 CE, who made it the administrative centre of his eastern territories. The name occurs again in Faxian as Shazhi (沙祗) in the early fifth century. It is not clear when the name changed, but by the time of the visit of the Chinese pilgrim monk, Xuanzang, c. 636 CE, it was known as Ayodyha (Ayoude).
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Legacy and Importance
Ayodhya was one of the most ancient, largest and most magnificent of Indian cities. It is said to have covered an area of 250 km² (96 square miles), and was the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Kosala (Kaushal), the court of the great king Dasaratha, the 56th monarch of the Solar line in descent from Raja Manu.1 The opening chapters of the Ramayana, a religious epic of the Classical Hindu period, recount the magnificence of the city, the glories of the monarch and the virtues, wealth and loyalty of his people. Dasaratha was the father of Rama Chandra, more commonly known as Lord Rama, the Seventh Avatara of the Vishnu, the Supreme Almighty; personification of Dharma. Many Hindus believe the birthplace of Rama to be in Ayodhya at the place called Ram Janmabhoomi, the site of the demolished Babri Mosque. According to the Ramayana, Ayodhya was ruled by the House of Ikshvaku, who was the son of Manu.
Ayodhya is also the birth place of five Tirthankars, including the first Tirthankar of Jainism, Shri Rishabh Dev. He is known as the father of Jain religion. The city is also importance in the history and heritage of Buddhism in India, with several Buddhist temples, monuments and centers of learning having been established during the age of the Mauryan Empire and the Gupta Dynasty. Ayodhya reached its glorious peak as known to history during the reign of the Guptas over India.
Tulsidas is said to have begun the writing of his famous Ramayana poem (Shri Rama Charit Manas) in Ayodhya in 1574. Several Tamil Alwar mention the city of Ayodhya. Ayodhya is also said to be the birthplace of Bhahubali, Brahmi, Sundari, King Dasaratha, Acharya Padaliptasurisvarji, King Harishchandra, Shri Rama, Achalbhrata, and the ninth Gandhara of Mahavir Swami.
The Atharva Veda called Ayodhya "a city built by gods and being as prosperous as paradise itself".
With the Islamic invasions of India from the 9th century A.D., Ayodhya was the victim of pillage and sacking. Hindu temples were looted and destroyed, and mosques were constructed in their place. With Muslim rulers established around the city, it lost its strategic and economic importance to Lucknow and Kanpur.
Ayodhya today is a small, rustic city with ancient Hindu architecture predominating, and with some Mughal influence. Its population is mostly Hindu with a minority of Muslims, Jains and Buddhists. However, its history and heritage hold an unequivocal importance for over Hindus in India and across the world.
Ayodhya Debate
Ayodhya is also the centre of the Ayodhya Debate concerning the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and the Babri Mosque. The mosque was destroyed in 1992 by rioters due to the belief that the Ram Janmabhoomi existed prior to the mosque's construction and that the temple was the birthplace of Rama.
Mob Attack
On 5 July 2005, five militants attacked the site of the demolished Babri Mosque, in Ayodhya. All five were shot down in the ensuing gunfight with the security forces guarding the area, and one civilian died in the bomb blast triggered by the terrorists to breach the cordon wall.
See also
References
- Legge, James (1886): A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Reprint: New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corp. 1965.
- Thomas, F. W. (1944): “Sandanes, Nahapāna, Caṣṭana and Kaniṣka : Tung-li P’an-ch’i and Chinese Turkestan.” New Indian Antiquary VII. 1944, p. 90.
- Watters, Thomas (1904-1905): On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India. Thomas Watters. London. Royal Asiatic Society. Reprint: Delhi. Mushiram Manoharlal. 1973.
External links
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