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Key Details
Type
CityMythology
Hindu Pantheon
Coordinates
26.7922°N, 82.1961°E
About This Location
Rama's capital in the poem
Ayodhya in Valmiki's Ramayana is Dasharatha's city on the Sarayu, from which Rama is exiled and to which he returns. The Bala Kanda opens with its prosperity; the Uttara Kanda closes with his rule. The epic is the map. Later temple politics and archaeology are a different argument. Cult of Rama at Ayodhya is historically late relative to the poem's composition. Read the city first as a narrative court, then as a pilgrimage that grew around the name.
Primary Sources
“There was a great city named Ayodhya, famous in the world, on the banks of the Sarayu, built by Manu himself.”
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