100-609: Ayodhya ( Hindustani: [əˈjoːdʱjaː] ; IAST : Ayodhyā ) is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh . It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh , India. Ayodhya became the top tourist destination of Uttar Pradesh with 110 million visitors in the first half of 2024, surpassing Varanasi . Ayodhya
200-921: A Sayyid line from Nishapur in Persia. They were Shia Muslims , and promoted Shia as the state religion. Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah instituted the Oudh Bequest , a system of fixed payments by the British paid to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala . These payments, along with lifelong stipends to the wives and mother of Ghazi-ud-Din served as interest on the Third Oudh Loan taken in 1825. The cities of Allahabad , Varanasi , and Ayodhya were important pilgrimage sites for followers of Hinduism and other Dharmic religions . The town of Bahraich
300-522: A is the negative prefix; the whole, therefore, means "not to be fought" or, more idiomatically in English, "invincible". This meaning is attested by the Atharvaveda , which uses it to refer to the unconquerable city of gods. The ninth century Jain poem Adi Purana also states that Ayodhya "does not exist by name alone but by the merit" of being unconquerable by enemies. Satyopakhyana interprets
400-568: A macron ). Vocalic (syllabic) consonants, retroflexes and ṣ ( / ʂ ~ ɕ ~ʃ/ ) have an underdot . One letter has an overdot: ṅ ( /ŋ/ ). One has an acute accent : ś ( /ʃ/ ). One letter has a line below: ḻ ( / ɭ / ) (Vedic). Unlike ASCII -only romanisations such as ITRANS or Harvard-Kyoto , the diacritics used for IAST allow capitalisation of proper names. The capital variants of letters never occurring word-initially ( Ṇ Ṅ Ñ Ṝ Ḹ ) are useful only when writing in all-caps and in Pāṇini contexts for which
500-560: A Rohilla enclave. Asaf-ud-Daula acceded to the nawabship of Oudh with British aid in exchange for the Treaty of Benares (1775) which further increased the cost of mercenaries and ceded the sarkars of Benares , Ghazipur , Chunar , and Jaunpur . From this time onwards, Oudh consistently complied with the Company's demands, which continued to demand more land and economic control over the state. The Treaty of Chunar (1781) sought to reduce
600-545: A big river was located between the two cities, and the Sutta Nipata mentions Saketa as the first halting place on the southward road from Shravasti to Pratishthana . Fourth century onwards, multiple texts, including Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha , mention Ayodhya as another name for Saketa. The later Jain canonical text Jambudvipa-Pannati describes a city called Viniya (or Vinita) as the birthplace of Lord Rishabhanatha , and associates this city with Bharata Chakravartin ;
700-509: A century of scholarly usage in books and journals on classical Indian studies. By contrast, the ISO 15919 standard for transliterating Indic scripts emerged in 2001 from the standards and library worlds. For the most part, ISO 15919 follows the IAST scheme, departing from it only in minor ways (e.g., ṃ/ṁ and ṛ/r̥)—see comparison below. The Indian National Library at Kolkata romanization , intended for
800-557: A demographic shift in which Lucknow and Varanasi expanded to become metropolises of over 200,000 people over the course of the 18th century at the expense of Agra and Delhi . During this period the land on the banks of the Yamuna suffered frequent dry spells, while the Baiswara did not. Although it was ruled by Muslims, a majority, roughly four fifths, of Oudh's population were Hindus . The Nawabs of Oudh were descended from
900-452: A dynasty of kings whose names end in "-mitra", and whose coins have been found at Ayodhya. They may have been members of a local dynasty that was distinct from the Mitra dynasty of Mathura. These kings are attested only by their coinage: Sangha-mitra, Vijaya-mitra, Satya-mitra, Deva-mitra, and Arya-mitra; coins of Kumuda-sena and Aja-varman have also been discovered. Around the fourth century,
1000-420: A flourishing town and a Buddhist centre. However, it had lost its position as an important political centre to Kanyakubja (Kannauj). At the time of Xuanzang's visit, it was a part of Harsha 's empire, and was probably the seat of a vassal or an administrative officer. Xuanzang states that the city measured about 0.6 km (20 li ) in circumference. Another seventh-century source, Kāśikāvṛttī , mentions that
1100-433: A font, etc. It can be enabled in the input menu in the menu bar under System Preferences → International → Input Menu (or System Preferences → Language and Text → Input Sources) or can be viewed under Edit → Emoji & Symbols in many programs. Equivalent tools – such as gucharmap ( GNOME ) or kcharselect ( KDE ) – exist on most Linux desktop environments. Users of SCIM on Linux based platforms can also have
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#17327653432361200-620: A mosque. In a judgement pronounced by a 5 judge bench of the Supreme Court of India on 9 November 2019, the land was handed over to the government to form a trust for the construction of a temple. The court instructed the government to also allot a plot of 2.0 hectares (5 acres) in Ayodhya to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to construct a mosque/Masjid. Some South Koreans have identified
1300-464: A new temple at what is believed to be the birthplace of the god, Ram . It was planned to build a new township, Navya Ayodhya, on a 200-hectare (500-acre) site next to the Faizabad - Gorakhpur highway, which will have luxury hotels and apartment complexes. The Ram Mandir ( lit. ' Rama Temple ' ) is a Hindu temple complex in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh , India. Many Hindus believe that it
1400-464: A new temple here, which was improved by Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore in 1784, the same time the adjacent Ghats were built. The initial idols in black sandstone were recovered from Sarayu and placed in the new temple, which was known as Kaleram-ka-Mandir. Chhoti Devkali Mandir is the temple of goddess Ishani, or Durga, Kuldevi of Sita. The temple of Nageshwarnath was established by Kush , son of Rama. Legend has it that Kush lost his armlet while bathing in
1500-524: A political centre of Magadha, whose capital was located at Pataliputra . Several Buddhist buildings may have been constructed in the town during the rule of the Maurya emperor Ashoka in the third century BC: these buildings were probably located on the present-day human-made mounds in Ayodhya. Excavations at Ayodhya have resulted in the discovery of a large brick wall, identified as a fortification wall by archaeologist B. B. Lal . This wall probably erected in
1600-611: A prosperous town during the Kushan rule. The second century geographer Ptolemy mentions a metropolis "Sageda" or "Sagoda", which has been identified with Saketa. The earliest inscription that mentions Saketa as a place name is dated to the late Kushan period: it was found on the pedestal of a Buddha image in Shravasti, and records the gift of the image by Sihadeva of Saketa. Before or after the Kushans, Saketa appears to have been ruled by
1700-568: A side door to offer worship. In 2003, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) carried out an excavation at the mosque site to determine if it was built over the ruins of a temple. The excavation uncovered pillar bases indicating a temple had been in existence under the mosque. Besides Hindus, the Buddhist and Jain representatives claimed that their temples existed at the excavated site. On 5 July 2005, five terrorists attacked
1800-578: A trust to build the Ram Mandir ; which was consecrated in January 2024 . It also ordered the government to give an alternate five acre tract of land to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board to build the mosque . The word "Ayodhya" is a regularly formed derivation of the Sanskrit verb yudh , "to fight, or wage war". Yodhya is the future passive participle, meaning "to be fought"; the initial
1900-407: A wedding gift, and only contains statues of Sita with her husband. Ramkot is the main place of worship in Ayodhya, and the site of the ancient citadel of its namesake, standing on elevated ground in the western city. Although visited by pilgrims throughout the year, it attracts devotees from all over the world on " Ram Navami ", the day of the birth of Rama. Ram Navami is celebrated with great pomp in
2000-649: Is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during the 19th century from suggestions by Charles Trevelyan , William Jones , Monier Monier-Williams and other scholars, and formalised by the Transliteration Committee of the Geneva Oriental Congress , in September 1894. IAST makes it possible for
2100-554: Is also found in the other Puranas with slight variations. In Garuda Purana , Ayodhya is said to be one of seven holiest places for Hindus in India, with Varanasi being the most sacrosanct. In 2023, a Diwali celebration in Ayodhya, broke the Guinness World Record of its previous world record of 1,576,944 for the largest display of oil lamp with 2,223,676 displayed on the eve of Diwali. Ram Mandir , also known as
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#17327653432362200-785: Is believed by some to be a native of Ayodhya. In 2001, a Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok was inaugurated by a Korean delegation, which included over a hundred historians and government representatives. In 2016, a Korean delegation proposed to develop the memorial. The proposal was accepted by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav . Ayodhya is connected by road to several major cities and towns, including Lucknow (130 km [81 mi]), Gorakhpur (140 km [87 mi]), Prayagraj (160 km [99 mi]), Varanasi (200 km [120 mi]) and Delhi (636 km [395 mi]). IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration ( IAST )
2300-782: Is by setting up an alternative keyboard layout . This allows one to hold a modifier key to type letters with diacritical marks. For example, alt + a = ā. How this is set up varies by operating system. Linux/Unix and BSD desktop environments allow one to set up custom keyboard layouts and switch them by clicking a flag icon in the menu bar. macOS One can use the pre-installed US International keyboard, or install Toshiya Unebe's Easy Unicode keyboard layout. Microsoft Windows Windows also allows one to change keyboard layouts and set up additional custom keyboard mappings for IAST. This Pali keyboard installer made by Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) supports IAST (works on Microsoft Windows up to at least version 10, can use Alt button on
2400-519: Is famous as su-kośala "because of its prosperity and good skill". The cities of Ayutthaya (Thailand), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia), are named after Ayodhya. Ancient Indian Sanskrit -language epics, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata mention a legendary city called Ayodhya , which was the capital of the legendary Ikshvaku kings of Kosala, including Rama. Neither these texts, nor
2500-446: Is located at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi , the mythical birthplace of Rama , a principal deity of Hinduism . The temple was inaugurated on 22 January 2024 after a prana pratishtha (consecration) ceremony. ^ includes Christians and other religion As of the 2011 Census of India , Ayodhya had a population of 55,890. Males constituted 56.7% of the population and females 43.3%. Ayodhya had an average literacy rate of 78.1%. As per
2600-520: Is the most popular shrine in Ayodhya. Situated in the centre of town, it is approachable by a flight of 76 steps. Its legend is that Hanuman lived here in a cave and guarded the Janambhoomi, or Ramkot. The main temple contains the statue of Maa Anjani with Bal Hanuman seated on her lap. The faithful believe wishes are granted with a visit to the shrine. Kanak Bhawan is a temple said to have been given to Sita and Rama by Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi as
2700-803: The Kalpa-Sutra describes Ikkhagabhumi as the birthplace of Rishabhadev. The index on the Jain text Paumachariya clarifies that Aojjha (Aodhya), Kosala-puri ("Kosala city"), Viniya, and Saeya (Saketa) are synonyms. The post-Canonical Jain texts also mention "Aojjha"; for example, the Avassagacurni describes it as the principal city of Kosala, while the Avassaganijjutti names it as the capital of Sagara Chakravartin . The Avassaganijjutti implies that Viniya ("Vinia"), Kosalapuri ("Kosalapura"), and Ikkhagabhumi were distinct cities, naming them as
2800-568: The Battle of Karnal . He attempted to negotiate with Nader Shah but died in Delhi. In 1740, his successor Safdar Jang moved the capital of the state from Ayodhya to Faizabad . Safdar Jang gained recognition from Persia after paying tribute. He continued Saadat Khan's expansionist policy, promising military protection to Bengal in exchange for the forts at Rohtasgarh and Chunar , and annexing portions of Farrukhabad with Mughal military aid which
2900-821: The Bombay Army of the East India Company overcame the disunited collection of Indian states in a single rapid campaign. Determined rebels continued to wage sporadic guerrilla clashes until the spring of 1859. This rebellion is also historically known as the Oudh campaign . After the British annexation of Oudh by the Doctrine of Lapse , the North Western Provinces became the North Western Provinces and Oudh. Oudh Subah
3000-624: The Datta , Kushan , and Mitra kings, although the chronological order of their rule is uncertain. Bakker theorises that the Dattas succeeded the Deva kings in the mid-1st century AD, and their kingdom was annexed to the Kushan Empire by Kanishka . The Tibetan text Annals of Li Country (c. 11th century) mentions that an alliance of king Vijayakirti of Khotan , king Kanika, the king of Gu-zan, and
3100-522: The Gupta period onwards, several sources mention Ayodhya and Saketa as the name of the same city. The legendary city of Ayodhya , popularly identified as the present-day Ayodhya, is identified in the epic Ramayana and its many versions as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama of Kosala and is hence regarded as the first of the seven most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus. The Ayodhya dispute
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3200-593: The Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the Hindu party for the shrine of "Ram Lalla" (infant Rama). The court further ruled that the area where the idols of Ram are present be given to Hindus in the final decree, while the rest of the land shall be divided equally by metes and bounds among the three parties. The judgement, along with evidences provided by the Archaeological Survey of India, upheld that
3300-573: The North Western Provinces , forming the larger province of North-Western Provinces and Oudh . In 1902, the latter was renamed the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh . In 1921, it became the United Provinces of British India . In 1937, it became the United Provinces and continued as a province in independent India until finally becoming the state of Uttar Pradesh in 1950. The following were feudatory estates — taluqdaris or parganas — of Oudh: The first ruler of Oudh State belonged to
3400-510: The Sarayu , and it was retrieved by a Nag-Kanya who fell in love with him. As she was a devotee of Shiva, Kush built her this temple. It was the only temple to survive when Ayodhya was abandoned until the time of Vikramaditya . While the rest of city was in ruin and covered by dense forest, this temple allowed Vikramaditya to recognise the city. The festival of Shivratri is celebrated here with great splendor. The legendary princess Heo Hwang-ok , who married king Suro of Geumgwan Gaya of Korea,
3500-537: The Shia Muslim Sayyid Family and descended of Musa al-Kadhim originated from Nishapur . But the dynasty also belonged from the paternal line to the Kara Koyunlu through Qara Yusuf . They were renowned for their secularism and broad outlook. All rulers used the title of ' Nawab '. In the early eighteenth century, the population of Oudh was estimated to be 3 million. Oudh underwent
3600-649: The Vakil of the Peshwa , until the Second Anglo-Maratha War . The Nawab of Oudh, one of the richest princes, paid for and erected a Residency in Lucknow as a part of a wider programme of civic improvements. Oudh joined other Indian states in an upheaval against British rule in 1858 during one of the last series of actions in the Indian rebellion of 1857 . In the course of this uprising, detachments of
3700-412: The "Ayuta" mentioned in their ancient Samgungnyusa legend with Ayodhya. According to this legend, the ancient Korean princess Heo Hwang-ok came from Ayuta. In the 2000s, the local government of Ayodhya and South Korea acknowledged the connection and held a ceremony to raise a statue of the princess. On 5 August 2020, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi , laid the ceremonial foundation stone for
3800-519: The Babri Masjid was built after demolishing the Hindu temple, which is the birthplace of Rama, and that the mosque was not constructed according to the principles of Islam. The final verdict by the Supreme Court on the case ruled the disputed land in the favour of Hindus for the construction of Ram Mandir and ordered an alternative piece of land be given to the Muslim community for the construction of
3900-527: The Babri mosque site for a Rama temple. In 1992, a right wing Hindu nationalist rally turned into a riot, leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque . A makeshift temple at Ram Janmabhoomi for Ram Lalla , infant Rama was constructed. Under the Indian government orders, no one was permitted near the site within 200 yards, and the gate was locked to the outside. Hindu pilgrims, however, began entering through
4000-618: The British in the Bengal War . Since Oudh was located in a prosperous region, the British East India Company soon took notice of the affluence in which the Nawabs of Oudh lived. Primarily, the British sought to protect the frontiers of Bengal and their lucrative trade there; only later did direct expansion occur. British dominance was established at the Battle of Buxar of 1764, when the East India Company defeated
4100-589: The British rulers. The rulers of Awadh were Shia , and the Sunni groups had already protested against the permissive attitude of the former government. The British intervened and crushed the Sunni resistance. In 1857, the British annexed Oudh (Awadh) and subsequently reorganised it into the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh . A movement was launched in 1984 by the Vishva Hindu Parishad party to reclaim
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4200-523: The British. On 7 February 1856, by order of Governor-General Lord Dalhousie , the Nawab of Oudh , Wajid Ali Shah , was deposed, and Oudh State was annexed to the territories of the British East India Company under the terms of the Doctrine of lapse on the grounds of alleged internal misrule. Between 5 July 1857 and 3 March 1858, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , Begum Hazrat Mahal ,
4300-634: The Buddhist Jatakas , mention Saketa as the capital of Kosala. As a busy town frequented by travellers, it appears to have become important for preachers such as Gautama Buddha and Mahavira . The Samyutta Nikaya and Anguttara Nikaya mention that Buddha resided at Saketa at times. The early Jain canonical texts (such as Antagada-dasao , Anuttarovavaiya-dasao , and Vivagasuya ) state that Mahavira visited Saketa; Nayadhammakahao states that Parshvanatha also visited Saketa. The Jain texts, both canonical and post-canonical, describe Ayodhya as
4400-700: The Greek siege of Saketa. Later, Saketa appears to have become part of a small, independent kingdom. The Yuga Purana states that Saketa was ruled by seven powerful kings after the retreat of the Greeks. The Vayu Purana and the Brahmanda Purana also state that seven powerful kings ruled in the capital of Kosala. The historicity of these kings is attested by the discovery of the coins of the Deva dynasty kings, including Dhanadeva, whose inscription describes him as
4500-534: The Hindu month of Chaitra , which falls between March and April. Swarg Dwar is believed to be the site of cremation of Rama. Mani Parbat and Sugriv Parbat are ancient earth mounds, the first identified by a stupa built by the emperor Ashoka , and the second is an ancient monastery. Treta ke Thakur is a temple standing at the site of the Ashvamedha Yajnya of Rama. Three centuries prior, the Raja of Kulu built
4600-745: The Jain Prakrit-language texts mention a city called Saketa (Sageya or Saeya in Prakrit) as an important city of the Kosala mahajanapada . Topographical indications in both Buddhist and Jain texts suggest that Saketa is the same as the present-day Ayodhya. For example, according to the Samyutta Nikaya and the Vinaya Pitaka , Saketa was located at a distance of six yojana s from Shravasti . The Vinaya Pitaka mentions that
4700-596: The Kosala province, and records commander Prithvisena's offerings to Brahmins from Ayodhya. Later, the capital of the Gupta Empire was moved from Pataliputra to Ayodhya. Paramartha states that king Vikramaditya moved the royal court to Ayodhya; Xuanzang also corroborates this, stating that this king moved the court to the "country of Shravasti", that is, Kosala. A local oral tradition of Ayodhya, first recorded in writing by Robert Montgomery Martin in 1838, mentions that
4800-452: The Mughal throne with the cooperation of other Mughal nobility. In 1748 he gained the subah of Allahabad with Ahmad Shah's official support. This was arguably the zenith of Oudh's territorial span. The next nawab, Shuja-ud-Daula , extended Oudh's control of the Mughal emperor. He was appointed vazir to Shah Alam II in 1762 and offered him asylum after his failed campaigns against
4900-524: The Saketa (present-day Ayodhya) only around the fourth century, when a Gupta emperor (probably Skandagupta ) moved his capital to Saketa, and renamed it to Ayodhya after the legendary city. Alternative, but less likely, theories state that Saketa and Ayodhya were two adjoining cities, or that Ayodhya was a locality within the Saketa city. Archaeological and literary evidence suggests that the site of present-day Ayodhya had developed into an urban settlement by
5000-554: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, is a Hindu temple complex under construction in Ayodhya. The site is significant to Hindus as it is believed to be the birthplace of their revered deity Rama . Balak Ram or the Infant form of Rama is the presiding deity of the temple consecrated on 22 January 2024 . Hanuman Garhi , a massive four-sided fort with circular bastions at each corner and a temple of Hanuman inside,
5100-407: The Treaty of Benares (1773) with the British (who held de facto control over the area) for 50 lakh rupees, increased the cost of Company mercenaries, and military aid in the First Rohilla War to expand Oudh as a buffer state against Maratha interests. Done by Warren Hastings , this move was unpopular among the rest of Company leadership, but Hastings continued a harsh policy on Oudh, justifying
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#17327653432365200-437: The alliance between the nawab of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula and the deposed nawab of Bengal Mir Kasim . The battle was a turning point for the once rising star of Oudh. The immediate effect was the British occupation of the fort at Chunar and the cession of the provinces of Kora and Allahabad to Mughal ruler Shah Alam II under the Treaty of Benares (1765). Shaja-ud-Daula further had to pay 5 million rupees as an indemnity, which
5300-594: The area of Sanskrit studies make use of free OpenType fonts such as FreeSerif or Gentium , both of which have complete support for the full repertoire of conjoined diacritics in the IAST character set. Released under the GNU FreeFont or SIL Open Font License , respectively, such fonts may be freely shared and do not require the person reading or editing a document to purchase proprietary software to make use of its associated fonts. Oudh State The Oudh State ( / ˈ aʊ d / , also Kingdom of Awadh , Kingdom of Oudh , Awadh Subah , Oudh Subah or Awadh State )
5400-429: The areas that have not yet been excavated. The Buddhist sites that had suffered destruction during the Khotanese-Kushan invasion appear to have remained deserted. The fifth-century Chinese traveller Faxian states that the ruins of Buddhist buildings existed at "Sha-chi" during his time. One theory identifies Sha-chi with Saketa, although this identification is not undisputed. If Sha-chi is indeed Saketa, it appears that by
5500-451: The autonomous Shaikhzadas of Lucknow and Raja Mohan Singh of Tiloi , consolidating Oudh as a state. In 1728, Oudh further acquired Varanasi , Jaunpur and surrounding lands from the Mughal noble Rustam Ali Khan and established stable revenue collection in that province after quelling the chief of Azamgarh , Mahabat Khan . In 1739 Saadat Khan mobilized Oudh to defend against Nader Shah 's invasion of India , ultimately being captured in
5600-429: The capitals of Abhinamdana, Sumai, and Usabha respectively. Abhayadeva's commentary on the Thana Sutta , another post-canonical text, identifies Saketa, Ayodhya, and Vinita as one city. According to one theory, the legendary Ayodhya city is the same as the historical city of Saketa and the present-day Ayodhya. According to another theory, the legendary Ayodhya is a mythical city, and the name "Ayodhya" came to be used for
5700-431: The city was deserted after the death of Rama's descendant Brihadbala . The city remain deserted until King Vikrama of Ujjain came searching for it, and re-established it. He cut down the forests that had covered the ancient ruins, erected the Ramgar fort, and built 360 temples. Vikramditya was a title of multiple Gupta kings, and the king who moved the capital to Ayodhya is identified as Skandagupta. Bakker theorises that
5800-460: The consumer edition since XP. This is limited to characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Characters are searchable by Unicode character name, and the table can be limited to a particular code block. More advanced third-party tools of the same type are also available (a notable freeware example is BabelMap ). macOS provides a "character palette" with much the same functionality, along with searching by related characters, glyph tables in
5900-536: The convention is to typeset the IT sounds as capital letters. For the most part, IAST is a subset of ISO 15919 that merges the retroflex (underdotted) liquids with the vocalic ones ( ringed below ) and the short close-mid vowels with the long ones. The following seven exceptions are from the ISO standard accommodating an extended repertoire of symbols to allow transliteration of Devanāgarī and other Indic scripts , as used for languages other than Sanskrit. The most convenient method of inputting romanized Sanskrit
6000-415: The cult of Rama developed within Vaishnavism, with Rama being regarded as the foremost avatar of Vishnu. Between the 13th and 18th century, Ayodhya's importance as a pilgrimage centre grew. In 1226 AD, Ayodhya became the capital of the province of Awadh (or "Oudh") within the Delhi sultanate . Muslim historians state that the area was little more than wilderness prior to this. Pilgrimage was tolerated, but
6100-433: The earlier Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas , mention a city called Saketa. Non-religious, non-legendary ancient Sanskrit texts, such as Panini's Ashtadhyayi and Patanjali's commentary on it, do mention Saketa. The later Buddhist text Mahavastu describes Saketa as the seat of the Ikshvaku king Sujata, whose descendants established the Shakya capital Kapilavastu . The earliest of the Buddhist Pali-language texts and
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#17327653432366200-505: The eighth-century poem Gaudavaho . Archaeological evidence (including images to Vishnu , Jain tirthankaras , Ganesha , the seven Matrikas , and a Buddhist stupa) suggests that the religious activity in the area continued during this period. According to Indologist Hans T. Bakker , the only religious significance of Ayodhya in the first millennium AD was related to the Gopratara tirtha (now called Guptar Ghat), where Rama and his followers are said to have ascended to heaven by entering
6300-405: The end of January, followed by a short spring in February and early March. Average temperatures are mild, near 16 °C (61 °F), but nights can be colder. Ayodhya is an important place of pilgrimage for the Hindus. A verse in the Brahmanda Purana names Ayodhya among "the most sacred and foremost cities", the others being Mathura , Haridvara , Kashi , Kanchi and Avantika . This verse
6400-401: The fertile lands of the Central and Lower Doab . With the British East India Company entering Bengal and decisively defeating Oudh at the Battle of Buxar in 1764, Oudh fell into the British orbit. The capital of Oudh was in Faizabad , but the Company's Political Agents, officially known as "Residents", had their seat in Lucknow . At par existed a Maratha embassy, in the Oudh court, led by
6500-407: The fifth century, the town no longer had a flourshing Buddhist community or any important Buddhist building that was still in use. An important development during the Gupta time was the recognition of Saketa as the legendary city of Ayodhya , the capital of the Ikshvaku dynasty . The 436 AD Karamdanda (Karmdand) inscription, issued during the reign of Kumaragupta I , names Ayodhya as the capital of
6600-489: The fifth or sixth-century BC. The site is identified as the location of the ancient Saketa city , which probably emerged as a marketplace located at the junction of the two important roads, the Shravasti - Pratishthana north–south road, and the Rajagriha - Varanasi -Shravasti- Taxila east–west road. Ancient Buddhist texts, such as Samyutta Nikaya , state that Saketa was located in the Kosala kingdom ruled by Prasenajit (or Pasenadi; c. sixth–5th century BC), whose capital
6700-414: The king of Kosala ( Kosaladhipati ). As the capital of Kosala, Saketa probably eclipsed Shravasti in importance during this period. The east–west route connecting Pataliputra to Taxila , which earlier passed through Saketa and Shravasti, appears to have shifted southwards during this period, now passing through Saketa, Ahichhatra and Kanyakubja . After the Deva kings, Saketa appears to have been ruled by
6800-399: The king of Li, marched to India and captured the So-ked city. During this invasion, Vijayakirti took several Buddhist relics from Saketa, and placed them in the stupa of Phru-no. If Kanika is identified as Kanishka, and So-ked as Saketa, it appears that the invasion of Kushans and their allies led to the destruction of the Buddhist sites at Saketa. Nevertheless, Saketa appears to have remained
6900-457: The last quarter of the third-century BC. After the decline of the Maurya empire, Saketa appears to have come under the rule of Pushyamitra Shunga . The first century BC inscription of Dhanadeva suggests that he appointed a governor there. The Yuga Purana mentions Saketa as the residence of a governor, and describes it as being attacked by a combined force of Greeks , Mathuras , and Panchalas . Patanjali's commentary on Panini also refers to
7000-438: The location of various shrines, such as those of snake, yaksha Pasamiya, Muni Suvratasvamin, and Surappia. It is not clear what happened to Saketa after Kosala was conquered by the Magadha emperor Ajatashatru around fifth century BC. There is lack of historical sources about the city's situation for the next few centuries: it is possible that the city remained a commercial centre of secondary importance, but did not grow into
7100-407: The military aid as a bid to strengthen Oudh's status as a buffer state against the Marathas. To shape the policy of Oudh and direct its internal affairs Hastings appointed the resident Nathaniel Middleton in Lucknow that year as well. At the conclusion of the First Rohilla War in 1774, Oudh gained the entirety of Rohilkhand and the Middle Doab region, only leaving the independent Rampur State as
7200-487: The move to Ayodhya may have been prompted by a flooding of the river Ganges at Pataliputra, the need to check the Huna advance from the west, and Skandagupta's desire to compare himself with Rama (whose Ikshvaku dynasty is associated with the legendary Ayodhya). According to Paramaratha's Life of Vasubandhu , Vikramaditya was a patron of scholars, and awarded 300,000 pieces of gold to Vasubandhu . The text states that Vasubandhu
7300-504: The number of British troops in Oudh's service to cut costs, but failed in this measure due to the instability of Asaf-ud-Daula's rule and thus his reliance on British aid essentially as a puppet regime. Saadat Ali Khan II acceded to the throne of Oudh in 1798, owing his seat to British intervention including Governor-General of Bengal Sir John Shore 's personal proclamation in Lucknow of his rule. A treaty signed on 21 February 1798 increased
7400-749: The opportunity to install and use the sa-itrans-iast input handler which provides complete support for the ISO 15919 standard for the romanization of Indic languages as part of the m17n library. Or user can use some Unicode characters in Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A, Latin Extended Additional and Combining Diarcritical Marks block to write IAST. Only certain fonts support all the Latin Unicode characters essential for
7500-411: The original Mughal subah of Awadh (excepting Gorakhpur which was ceded) and surrounded it by directly-administered British territory, rendering it useless as a buffer. The treaty also mandated a government to be put in place that primarily served the citizens of Oudh. It was on the basis of the failure to meet this demand that the British later justified the annexation of Oudh. Farrukhabad and Rampur
7600-599: The reader to read the Indic text unambiguously, exactly as if it were in the original Indic script. It is this faithfulness to the original scripts that accounts for its continuing popularity amongst scholars. Scholars commonly use IAST in publications that cite textual material in Sanskrit, Pāḷi and other classical Indian languages. IAST is also used for major e-text repositories such as SARIT, Muktabodha, GRETIL, and sanskritdocuments.org. The IAST scheme represents more than
7700-577: The region came under the control of the Guptas , who revived Brahmanism . The Vayu Purana and the Brahmanda Purana attest that the early Gupta kings ruled Saketa. No Gupta-era archaeological layers have been discovered in present-day Ayodhya, although a large number of Gupta coins have been discovered here. It is possible that during the Gupta period, the habitations in the city were located in
7800-579: The religion data of 2011 Census , the majority population is of Hindu religion with 93.23%, and Muslims comes the second with 6.19%. Ayodhya has a humid subtropical climate, typical of central India. Summers are long, dry and hot, lasting from late March to mid-June, with average daily temperatures near 32 °C (90 °F). They are followed by the monsoon season which lasts till October, with annual precipitation of approximately 1,067 mm (42.0 in) and average temperatures around 28 °C (82 °F). Winter starts in early November and lasts till
7900-471: The right side of the keyboard instead of Ctrl+Alt combination). Many systems provide a way to select Unicode characters visually. ISO/IEC 14755 refers to this as a screen-selection entry method . Microsoft Windows has provided a Unicode version of the Character Map program (find it by hitting ⊞ Win + R then type charmap then hit ↵ Enter ) since version NT 4.0 – appearing in
8000-486: The romanisation of all Indic scripts , is an extension of IAST. The IAST letters are listed with their Devanagari equivalents and phonetic values in IPA , valid for Sanskrit , Hindi and other modern languages that use Devanagari script, but some phonological changes have occurred: * H is actually glottal , not velar . Some letters are modified with diacritics : Long vowels are marked with an overline (often called
8100-420: The rulers became increasingly dependent on the local Hindu nobles, and control over the temples and pilgrimage centres was relaxed. In the 1850s, a group of Hindus attacked the Babri mosque, on the grounds that it was built over the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama . To prevent further disputes, the British administrators divided the mosque premises between Hindus and Muslims. Ayodhya was annexed in 1856 by
8200-566: The seventh century Chinese traveller Xuanzang , who describes a stupa and a monastery at Ayodhya ("O-yu-t-o"). Ayodhya probably suffered when the Hunas led by Mihirakula invaded the Gupta empire in the sixth century. After the fall of the Guptas, it may have been ruled by the Maukhari dynasty, whose coins have been found in the nearby areas. It was not devastated, as Xuanzang describes it as
8300-629: The site of the makeshift Ramlalla temple in Ayodhya. All five were killed in the ensuing gunfight with security forces, and one civilian died in the bomb blast triggered as they attempted to breach the cordon wall. On 30 September 2010, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court ruled that one-third of the disputed land should be given to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board , one-third to
8400-478: The subsidy paid to the British to 70 lakh rupees per year. In light of the Napoleonic Wars and British demands for greater revenue from the Company, in 1801, Saadat Ali Khan II ceded the entire Rohilkhand and Lower Doab as well as the sarkar of Gorakhpur under the pressure of Lord Wellesley to the British in lieu of the annual tribute. The cession halved the size of the polity, reducing it to
8500-560: The tax on pilgrims ensured that the temples did not receive much income. Under Mughal rule, the Babri mosque was constructed in Ayodhya. The city was the capital of the province of Awadh (mispronounced as "Oudh" by the British), which is also believed to be a variant of the name "Ayodhya". After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 AD, the central Muslim rule weakened, and Awadh became virtually independent, with Ayodhya as its capital. However,
8600-494: The town was surrounded by a moat similar to that around Pataliputra . After the fall of Harsha's empire, Ayodhya appears to have been variously controlled by local kings and the rulers of Kannauj, including Yashovarman and the Gurjara-Pratiharas . The town is not mentioned in any surviving texts or inscriptions composed during 650–1050 AD, although it may be identified with the "city of Harishchandra " mentioned in
8700-487: The transliteration of Indic scripts according to the IAST and ISO 15919 standards. For example, the Arial , Tahoma and Times New Roman font packages that come with Microsoft Office 2007 and later versions also support precomposed Unicode characters like ī . Many other text fonts commonly used for book production may be lacking in support for one or more characters from this block. Accordingly, many academics working in
8800-524: The waters of Sarayu. In the 11th century, the Gahadavala dynasty came to power in the region, and promoted Vaishnavism . They built several Vishnu temples in Ayodhya, five of which survived till the end of Aurangzeb 's reign. Hans Bakker concludes that there might have been a temple at the supposed birth spot of Rama built by the Gahadavalas (see Vishnu Hari inscription ). In subsequent years,
8900-508: The wife of Wajid Ali Shah proclaimed their son Birjis Qadr the Wali of Awadh and ruled as regent. At the time of the rebellion, the British lost control of the territory; they reestablished their rule over the next eighteen months, during which time there were massacres such as those that had occurred in the course of the Siege of Cawnpore . After the rebellion, Oudh's territory was merged with
9000-521: The word differently, stating that it means "that which cannot be conquered by sins" (instead of enemies). "Saketa" is the older name for the city, attested in Sanskrit, Jain, Buddhist, Greek and Chinese sources. According to Vaman Shivram Apte , the word "Saketa" is derived from the Sanskrit words Saha (with) and Aketen (houses or buildings). The Adi Purana states that Ayodhya is called Saketa "because of its magnificent buildings which had significant banners as their arms". According to Hans T. Bakker ,
9100-506: The word may be derived from the roots sa and ketu ("with banner"); the variant name saketu is attested in the Vishnu Purana . The older name in English was "Oudh" or "Oude", and the princely state it was the capital of until 1856 is still known as Oudh State . Ayodhya was stated to be the capital of the ancient Kosala kingdom in the Ramayana . Hence it was also referred to as "Kosala". The Adi Purana states that Ayodhya
9200-565: Was a Mughal subah , then an independent kingdom, and lastly a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of the state, also written historically as Oudhe. As the Mughal Empire declined and decentralized, local governors in Oudh began asserting greater autonomy, and eventually Oudh matured into an independent polity governing
9300-448: Was a native of Saketa ("Sha-ki-ta"), and describes Vikramaditya as the king of Ayodhya ("A-yu-ja"). This wealth was used to build three monasteries in the country of A-yu-ja (Ayodhya). Paramartha further states that the later king Baladitya (identified with Narasimhagupta ) and his mother also awarded large sums of gold to Vasubandhu, and these funds were used to build another Buddhist temple at Ayodhya. These structures may have been seen by
9400-538: Was centered on the Babri mosque , built 1528–29 under the Mughal emperor Babur and said to have replaced a temple that stood at the birth spot of Rama . In 1992 a Hindu mob demolished the mosque , provoking riots throughout the country. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India announced the final verdict that the land belonged to the government based on tax records; It further ordered the land to be handed over to
9500-406: Was historically known as Saketa . The early Buddhist and Jain canonical texts mention that the religious leaders Gautama Buddha and Mahavira visited and lived in the city. The Jain texts also describe it as the birthplace of five tirthankaras namely, Rishabhanatha , Ajitanatha , Abhinandananatha , Sumatinatha and Anantanatha , and associate it with the legendary Bharata Chakravarti . From
9600-459: Was located at Shravasti. The later Buddhist commentary Dhammapada- atthakatha states that the Saketa town was established by merchant Dhananjaya (the father of Visakha ), on the suggestion of king Prasenajit. The Digha Nikaya describes it as one of the six large cities of India. The early Buddhist canonical texts mention Shravasti as the capital of Kosala, but the later texts, such as the Jain texts Nayadhammakahao and Pannavana Suttam , and
9700-682: Was not annexed by the British yet; instead, they served as separate princely states for the moment. The kingdom became a British protectorate in May 1816. Three years later, in 1819, the Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah took the title of Badshah (king), signaling formal independence from the Mughal Empire under the advice of the Marquis of Hastings . Throughout the early 1800s until annexation, several areas were gradually ceded to
9800-425: Was one of the initial 12 subahs (later expanded to 15 subahs by the end of Akbar's reign) established by Akbar during his administrative reforms of 1572–1580. A Mughal Subah was divided into Sarkars , or districts. Sarkars were further divided into Parganas or Mahals . Saadat Ali Khan I was appointed Subahdar of Oudh Subah on 9 September 1722, succeeding Girdhar Bahadur . He immediately subdued
9900-462: Was paid off in one year. The long-term result would be direct British interference in the internal state matters of Oudh, useful as a buffer state against the Marathas . The treaty also granted British traders special privileges and exemptions from many customs duties, which led to tensions as British monopolies were established. Shuja-ud-Daula bought the Mughal provinces of Kora and Allahabad in
10000-599: Was ruled by Muhammad Khan Bangash . As the Mughal empire began to dissolve in the early 18th century, many subahs became effectively independent. As regional officials asserted their autonomy in Bengal and the Deccan as well as with the rise of the Maratha Empire , the rulers of Oudh gradually affirmed their own sovereignty. Safdar Jang went as far as to control the ruler of Delhi, putting Ahmad Shah Bahadur on
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