AYODHYA - The Ancient City
According to the Ramayana Ayodhya is so ancient that it was founded by Manu, the progenitor of humankind. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata describe Ayodhya as the capital of the Ikshvaku dynasty. It is situated on the banks of the River Sarayu. Valmiki describes it as a huge city around 120 miles in length and 30 miles in breadth. It was a very prosperous and modern city. It had huge royal highways always kept moist with water with fragrant flowers scattered on them. The city was surrounded by gates and arches. All the houses had beautiful frontages. Buildings were studded with precious gems. Many were multi-storied, some going up to seven stories. Water was plentiful and tasted like sugar cane juice. Many Vedic scholars and sages lived there and the atmosphere was very calm and peaceful. It had skilled craftsmen of all types. It was surrounded by gardens and orchard trees with mangoes, pomegranates and grapes. It was well fortified with an extensive wall which was as beautiful as an ornament girdling the city. Beyond that was a wide moat which prevented enemies from entering. It was protected with machinery and weapons and bastions with canons. It had horses, camels, cows and donkeys. Many residents of other cities as well as traders used to visit the city. This was the city in which the great king Dasaratha lived and in which Sri Rama grew up.
This is the description of Ayodhya as given in the 5th chapter of the Bala Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana. Since Valmiki was a contemporary of Sri Rama he obviously wrote about what he saw and not about some mythical city that existed only in his imagination. It is indeed sad that this country that has produced the Adi Kavi, the first poet in the whole world, should belittle his words and denigrate the Ramayana as mythology and Rama as a fictitious character! Whereas every country tries to eulogise their heroes and extol their history, we, in Bharat are guilty of being ashamed of our history and portray our heroes as mythological creations in order to applaud the ignorance of our conquerors!
Bharat has the most ancient civilization in the world. Our cities were flourishing at a time when the rest of the world was still in the Stone Age! This is something the western historians cannot digest and therefore refuse to believe. The only way therefore was to throw all our history into the dust bin of mythology. However the fact is that our ancient cities still exist even though they have been built over, first by the Buddhists and then by the Muslims.
Fortunately Dwaraka had been submerged by the sea so it had been left untouched for centuries. Modern maritime experts and divers have discovered it and archaeologist have dated many of the artefacts that have been found, to over five thousand years. Thankfully no one has been able to deny the existence of this city! Ayodhya however has been built over and over again so people are ready to deny that such a city existed despite the proof of our Puranas which clearly give all details of the city. The Puranas also give the names of the places that were visited by Sri Rama on his trek to the island of Sri Lanka and thankfully these names are still there in the sub-continent. How can people deny the existence of such a person and even more contemptible how can the modern Hindus go by what the westerners say and deny the evidence of their own eyes.
Some of the greatest festivals of our country are connected with our great avatars and they have been faithfully followed by generations of Hindus. Time is an ever flowing entity and in India our relics and our temples prove that in this country it has been flowing through eternity! Why is our modern youth so ashamed of admitting this? Other countries flaunt their paltry 100 or 200 year old artefacts and display them in museums and tourist spots and even ask us money to view them. We, on the other hand, allow our great treasures to rot in the rain and sun and degrade them as worthless! How did our conquerors brainwash us like this and why are we still clinging on to their pointless opinions. It is high time our modern youth cut the heavy shackles that are keeping us from reaching the heights of glory that is our right and recognised the depth and beauty of their own culture.
It is indeed the irony of fate that Sri Rama who was the gentlest person who ever existed, who was loved by all who met him, should have faced so many calamities during his own lifetime and a raging storm surrounding his capital up to the present day and doubts cast about his very existence! Thank God that at last, he has come to his own and his city has been re-built with the splendour that it deserves. It is high time that Hindus recognised the glory of the ancient kings of their own land.
Sri Rama’s story has exerted a huge influence on all the great civilizations of S. East Asia. His character has moulded the minds of the people of many nations. He has been held up as the ideal of manhood and Sita of womanhood from Valmiki’s times to the present age. Can any other character either alive or even fictitious boast at having made such an impact on the human mind as Rama has! It is absurd to say that such a character did not exist and that his city of Ayodhya never existed!!
The story of Rama shows us that dharma is a strict disciplinarian. It brooks no straying from its stringent path. One who adheres strictly to the path of dharma like Rama will find that even the deepest and strongest of all material attachments will have to be sacrificed for its sake. In the Ramayana you see the terrible anguish felt by Rama, the mortal, when the time came to sacrifice his greatest loves one by one on the altar of dharma. Despite his agony he did not deviate an inch from the strict ideal he had kept for himself and did not flinch from making the final sacrifice of his beloved queen and brother. We who live in a world of easy morality may not appreciate such a sacrifice but to the true Hindu he was a god because only a god could make such sacrifices!
I had been to Ayodhya long before the great kar seva was enacted by the Hindus in a desperate bid to get back the birth place of their beloved avatar. The first thing I noticed about Ayodhya at that time, was the nature of the people as well as of the priests who officiated in the Ram Mandir as well as all the other mandirs. It is as if a part of the nobility of Rama’s character still vibrated in the ecosphere. Because of this Ayodhya is the only place I have visited that the priests are not avaricious and grabbing. They were all as gentle as their Lord and those people who have lived for generations in the city are very kind and ready to help you. This is most remarkable and throws more light on the exemplary character of Sri Rama and the aura he has created that exists in the city till now.
The Ram Mandir that existed when I went was a very small, modern one but as I said the fragrance of his character still existed. At the end of the puja the pujari even gave me the “tambul” (pan leaves mixed with lime and betel nuts) that had been offered to the deity!
Another place worth a visit is Ramkot which is on a small hill and marks the site of Sri Rama’s fort. This is believed to be the place where he was crowned and made the king of the Kosala Empire.
The most beautiful mandir in Ayodhya is the Kanak Bhavan which is not even denoted as a temple but as a bhavan which means a residence. The legend goes that Kaikeyi the youngest wife of Dasaratha who was responsible for Rama’s exile had given it as a wedding present to Sita. It is an enchanting piece of work with carved recesses, arches and windows all around the central courtyard. Of course the building we see now must have been built over and over again on the ancient one but a strong feminine energy still lingers on, much like Sita’s own character.
Close to this is the famous Hanuman Garhi which is a gigantic structure shaped like a four-sided fort with circular bastions at each corner. It has some amazing carvings. This is the place where Hanuman lived and guarded the Ram Janmabhumi. You have to climb a lot of steep steps to reach. Of course as is to be expected the place is crawling with monkeys but still a visit here is a must since Hanuman will grant us all our desires. The “Besan ka Laddu” that is given as prasad here is very special.
Another important place is the Nageshwar Nath Mandir dedicated to Lord Shiva which is said to have been built originally by Sri Rama’s son – Kusha. Apparently he lost his armlet in the Sarayu River. This was retrieved by a Naga maiden who fell in love with him. As she was a devotee of Lord Shiva, he built a temple for him.
There is also a beautiful garden known as Tulsi Udyan that is fairly new and is a memorial to the great sage Tulsi Das who wrote the popular version of Ramayana known as the Ramacharitamaanas. His statue is found under a beautiful canopy. Actually the garden was built in the name of Queen Victoria but the name was changed in 1960.
All along the banks of the Sarayu River we find ghats made in the names of Sri Rama’s family – Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrugna, Sita, Urmila and so on. The Sarayu River is said to originate from Lake Manasarover in the Himalayas.
The wheels of Time turn slowly but they grind exceedingly small. At last in this year 2024, the five-hundred year old dispute over the Ram Janmabhumi has come to an end and Sri Rama was able to enter his own capital in all glory. Ayodhya ranks amongst the seven great dhams of Hinduism. Let all Hindus rejoice on this day when the temple has been re-built and Ram Lala has been installed with all pomp and glory.
Jai Sri Rama!