There, famous in her old renown,
Ayodhyá stands, the royal town.
In bygone ages built and planned
By sainted Manu's princely hand.
Imperial seat, Her walls extend
Twelve measured leagues from end to end.
And three in width from side to side,
With square and palace beautified.
Her gates at even distance stand;
Her ample roads are wisely planned.
Right glorious is her royal street
Where streams allay the dust and heat.
On level ground in even row
Her houses rise in goodly show:
Terrace and palace, arch and gate
The queenly city decorate.
High are her ramparts, strong and vast,
By ways at even distance passed.
With circling moat, both deep and wide,
And store of weapons fortified.
King Dasharatha, lofty-souled,
That city guarded and controlled.
With towering Sál trees belted round
And many a grove, and pleasure ground.
As royal Indra, throned on high,
Rules his fair city in the sky.
She seems a painted city fair
With chess-board line and even square.
And cool boughs shade the lovely lake
Where weary men their thirst may slake.
There gilded chariots gleam and shine,
And stately piles the Gods enshrine.
There gay sleek people ever throng
To festival and dance and song.
A mine is she of gems and sheen,
The darling home of Fortune's Queen.
With noblest sort of drink and meat,
The fairest rice and golden wheat.
And fragrant with the chaplet's scent
With holy oil and incense blent.
With many an elephant and steed,
And wains for draft and cars for speed.
With envoys sent by distant kings,
And merchants with their precious things,
With banners over her roofs that play,
And weapons that a hundred slay;
All warlike engines framed by man,
And every class of artisan.
A city rich beyond compare
With bards and minstrels gathered there
And men and damsels who en-trance
The soul with play and song and dance.
In every street is heard the lute,
The drum, the tibred, and the flute.
The Veda chanted soft and low,
The ringing of the archer's bow.
With bands of godlike heroes
Skilled in every warlike weapon.
And kept by warriors from the foe,
As Nágas guard their home below.
There wisest Bráhmans evermore
The flame of worship feed,
And versed in all the Vedas' lore,
Their lives of virtue lead,
Truthful and pure, they freely give.
This is the poetic description of Ayodhya, from the Valmiki Ramayana, within the Section entitled Ayodhya, in the first book, the Bala Kanda, translated to English by Ralph TH Griffith, in 1870.
2. Tulasidas
In the lanes of Ayodhya in the 1600s, during the time of the Mughal rule under Emperor Akbar; the grandfather of Shah Jahan, the erector of the Taj Mahal;
A youth of the name Rambola Dubey, meaning one who uttered Rama, though not born in Ayodhya, spent much of his time in mediation there, as well as by the banks of the Ganges, in Varanasi.
Being of devotional disposition as well as having an intense desire to express this in an artistic form, Rambola spent much of his time learning Sanskrit; the exclusive language of the upper class Brahmanas and Indian aristocracy.
However, being of simple heart and mind, to Rambola, the common-tongue of Awadhi appealed to him somewhat more; a local vernacular language, of Indo-Aryan origin, spoken by those of the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh; and also spoken by those in the Terai region of West Nepal, close to Ayodhya.
Awadh being a name originating linguistically from the term “Ayodhya.” The Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional song which indeed Rambola would go on to write, is sung by millions to this day, not in Hindi, but in the Awadhi language.
As he grew up, Rambola in the year 1631, compiled a 10,902 verse long poem based on the stories of Rama into what would become one of the most loved texts on Rama, the Ramcharitamanas, meaning “the Lake of Deeds of Rama,” considered one of the greatest works of Vedic literature. Rambola then became known as Tulasidas, the great poet, devoted to Rama and Hanuman.
Emperor Akbar, had established relations with the Ottoman Empire, and had successfully built trade across the large parts of the Asian subcontinent. He had also spent time in Govardhana.
When Tulasidas compiled the Ramacaritmanasa, in the Awadhi language so that it would be accessible to the common person, and not only the elite and literary class; many Brahmin scholars became enraged, and conspired to steal the Ramcharitamanas script.
Tulasidas had an old friend; who happened to be the Finance Minister of Emperor Akbar, the most powerful man in the land.
This friend, Todar Mal was a Hindu despite a change in his name to a more Islamic style, away from what is thought to originally be Agarwal. Todar Mal, earlier on, was a commander in Emperor Akbar’s army, and had led successful conquests including against Khan Khanan, and Khan Zaman. Todar Mal became the Counsellor of the Mughal Empire, and one of their premier noblemen.
One evening, Tulasidas came under pressure from the Brahmins one evening, and so he hurriedly sought out Todar Mal, and entrusted to him his Ramacharitmanas script for safekeeping.
Indeed, the copy was kept with Mal, and returned after some years to the Hanuman Temple in Tulasi Ghat in Varanasi where Tulasidas would spend much time. Todar Mal is known to have later in his life, translated the Bhagwata Purana, or Srimad Bhagawatam into Persian, and it is also he who rebuilt the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 1585.
And so Tulasidas, who held Ayodhya so close to his heart, had his devotional works preserved through the Mughal & British rules, and they are one of the shining lights of Vedic scripture to this day.
3. Ayodhya in the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata cites Ayodhya in fundamentally four ways:
The Lineage of Ayodhya: Explanations of the line of Ikshvaku to Rama and beyond, where some of the Kings in the line had Ayodhya for their domicile
Stories of other Kings of Ayodhya: Stories imparted by various personalities pertaining to Kings, and including detailed descriptions of the Kingdom of Ayodhya in previous times.
Telling of the Ramayana: The re-telling of the Ramayana in various levels of details, once by Lomasha, then by Hanuman to Bhima
Ayodhya during the Mahabharata Era: this includes Ayodhya being entered into during the time of the Mahabharata, by the likes of Krishna, and the Pandavas themselves
One citation is King Dirgh-yaghna of Ayodhya being defeated by Arjuna in the Pandava conquests | Sabha Parva, Digvijaya Parva
In the descriptions of the Pandava conquest after they had acquired Indraprastha, Sage Vaisampayana cites Ayodhya. This time, not before the times of Rama, but in the days that followed in the time of the Mahabharata, and says:
“Then the foremost of the sons of Pandu, by performing feats excelling in fierceness, defeated the virtuous and mighty king Dirgha-yaghna of the Kingdom of Ayodhya. And the exalted one, Arjuna, then subjugated the country of Gopala-kaksha and the northern Kosalas and also the king of Mallas.”
The second is King Dasaratha, from the heavens asking Rama to Rule Ayodhya | Draupadi Harana Parva where Sage Markandeya speaks the Ramayana to Draupadi
“And returning, Bharata ruled at Nandigrama, keeping before him, his brother's wooden sandals. And Rama fearing a repetition of intrusion by the people of Ayodhya i.e when they had followed him to convince him to return to rule Ayodhya upon being exiled, entered into the great forest towards the asylum of Sar-abhanga.
And when there, King Dasaratha who had already entered the heavens 14 years before, appeared in a subtle form on Earth to Rama, and said, “I have been gratified with thee, my child Rama. Blessed be thou, I am thy father Dasaratha, I command thee to take back thy wife, and rule thy kingdom, O thou foremost of men.
And Rama replied, 'If thou art my father, I salute thee with reverence. O king kings, I shall indeed, return, at thy command, to the delightful city of Ayodhya!
And Bharata then, after having worshipped his returned brother, made over to him with great pleasure, the kingdom that had been in his hands as a sacred trust.
And Vasi shtha and Vamadeva then together installed that hero amongst men, Rama once again into the sovereignty of Ayodhya, at the eighth Muli-urta of the day under the asterism called Sravana.
Then the son of Raghu, Rama, with his devoted wife, returned to this city of his own, Ayodhya, inaccessible to enemies, and that lord among men, began to dwell there once again.”
And so, the Mahabharata makes it clear that Ayodhya was a reference point for the Vedic lore in many contexts in addition to that of the Great Rama. But important it remains that Rama and the City of Ayodhya is cited at important junctures, and those involving the parting of knowledge from some of the wisest personalities, to those most in need of it, those who resided in the sphere of action.
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