Ayodhya

‘Ayodhya’ means ‘not to be fought’ or ‘invincible’; this meaning is attested by the Atharvaveda which uses it to refer to the unconquerable city of God. Ayodhya Dham, one of the seven most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus (Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Varanasi, Kanchipuram, Dwarkapuri and Ujjain) has a unique identity as the birth place of Hindu deity Ram.  Though the historians have many different points of views about the birth date and birth place of Lord Ram but the most authentic among them is based on archeological and scientific evidences which confirm the date and time of birth of Lord Ram as January 10, 5114 BCE, 12:05 pm, and the place of birth is Ayodhya. Some people doubt about the date of birth being January 10 and we celebrate Ram Naomi in March-April, this confusion should be cleared. The reason for this is the concept of precision of equinox where 1 day is adjusted for every 72 years, thus over a 7200 years period it works to around 100 days between January 10 and April 15. Lord Ram was the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu who born in the 81 st. generation of Ikshvaku dynasty, also known as Suryavansh. Apart from Ram there were many prominent names in Ikshvaku dynasty as Harishchandra, Bhagirath, Raghu and Dasharath.  

History:

According to historians’ ancient capital of Kaushal, Awadh was called later Ayodhya and during the Buddha period it was named Saket. Ayodhya was mainly the city of temples, remains of many Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples are found in the city even today. No doubt Ayodhya is one of the most valuable pilgrims for Hindus but Jain do respect Ayodhya equally because five Tirthankara including Adinath have their birth place here in Ayodhya. Buddhist also like Ayodhya for few months stays of Lord Buddha at this holy city. Ayodhya was established by one of the ancestors of Ram, Manu the son of Lord Sun, from that time till Mahabharat period Suryavanshi kings ruled here. Some inscriptions found in the ruins of temples and excavation done by archeological departments have evidences of visit of king Vikramaditya in the city and many grand temples, palaces, wells, lakes and gardens were built by him during his stay. History of Ayodhya has evidences in support of grand temple containing 84 pillars of black kasauti stones, was built by king Vikramaditya at the birth place of Lord Ram. Many kings visited Ayodhya time to time and renovated the temple as per requirement, an inscription about a king Pushyamitra Shung had been found, who had renovated it and organized two Ashwamedh Yagnas at the temple. Chandragupta II had made the capital of Gupta dynasty at Ayodhya and visited the temple at the birth place of Ram. The prosperity of the temples at the birth place of Ram and surroundings remained until a sad incident of destruction and robbery had been done by Mir Baqi, the general of Mughal emperor Babur. The temples were destroyed and mosque was built using the debris of the temples. Historical evidences collected during the excavation of the site done by archeologists Alexander Cunningham, A K Narain, B B Lal, B R Mani, and historian Hans Bakker tell the glorious past of Ayodhya as well as the destruction done by Mughal rulers.

Geography:

The city Ayodhya is situated on the bank of river Sarayu in the biggest Bhartiya state Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarter of Ayodhya district and Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh. The city occupies an area of 121 square kilometers having population nearly 1.20 Lakh. The city is located at 26 ֯ N latitude and 82 ֯ E longitudes. Ayodhya has a humid subtropical climate, typical of central Bharat. Summers are long dry and hot, lasting from late March to mid June, with average temperature 36.6 ֯C, followed by rains lasting up to early October with average rain 1100 mm. and humid temperature nearly 29 ֯C. Winters are not so long, starting from November lasts up to January with average temperature 9 ֯C followed by pleasant spring for next three months with warm days and cool nights.

Ram Mandir Movement Time-Line:

The identity of Ayodhya is not only as a district headquarters or as a division headquarters of one of the many districts or divisions of Uttar Pradesh state, but the identity of Ayodhya is the birth place of Lord Ram, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The identity of Ayodhya became the dispute of the land of the birth place of Lord Ram, for which Hindus have had a long legal fight and many sacrifices for a long time. Let us discover the time line- 

• According to inscriptions found on the walls, the Babri Masjid had been constructed in 1528 by the order of Emperor Babur after demolishing a temple at the birth place of lord Ram.
• Rajput noble Jai Singh II purchased the land of the mosque in 1717 and vested it in the deity. Hindus used to worship Ram’s idol outside the mosque.
• The first clash between Hindus and Muslims was recorded in 1853 over the claim of ownership of the land purchased by Jai Singh II. 
• The colonial British administration put a fence around the site in 1857, denominating separate areas of worship for Hindus and Muslims.
• First FIR was logged by khatib of Masjid Janmasthan (Babri Masjid) in 1858 against a Sikh nihang who attacked the mosque and tried to capture the land occupied by Muslims.
• The main priest of Hanuman Chabutra requested the Faizabad civil court in 1885 to grant permission to build a temple in the outer courtyard of the mosque but the court rejected the petition.
• Appeal against the 1885 judgment was filed in Faizabad district court in 1886. The British judge rejected the plea by giving a very interesting observation, It is very unfortunate that a Masjid should have been built on land specially held sacred by the Hindus, but as that event occurred 356 years ago it is too late now to remedy the grievance.”
• Hindus claimed the appearance of idols of Lord Ram in the Janmasthan Masjid in 1949; Muslims told that the idols were placed forcefully. Both sides filed civil suits to the dispute, government locked the gate saying the matter was subjudice and declared the area disputed.
• A new organization Babri Action Committee was founded in 1961 and a case was filed against forceful occupation of Babri Masjid and placing of idols within it.
• Both central government and state governments tried to pressurize Hindu sentiments for Ram Janmbhoomi movement, but in contrast the movement became much stronger since 1884 onwards.
• Faizabad district court ordered the gate of mosque to be opened after 37 years in 1886 and allowed Hindus to worship inside the disputed structure. Babri Action Committee protested against the court’s verdict and moved to higher courts.
• Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) decided to intensify the Ram Janmbhoomi movement in 1989 and announced the collection of Ram Shila, at least one brick from each and every village, town and city of our country and also from the other countries where Hindus live. The foundation stone was laid for the symbolic foundation of Ram temple on the land adjacent to the disputed structure. The Muslim community became violent and some clashes were reported in different parts of the country.
• VHP got the active support of political party BJP in 1990, Lal Krishna Advani announced a country wide Rath Yatra to get support for Ram Mandir on the disputed land of Ayodhya. Advani ji was arrested in Bihar but the Hindu sentiment became pro-active for Ram Mandir. A group of thousands of Kar Sevaks marched to the disputed land of Ayodhya for kar-seva but UP government opened fire on them, hundreds of Kar Sevaks were murdered and their bodies were thrown in the river Sarayu. UP government Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav became the strength of Muslim community and thousands of lives were sacrificed in the riots after the killing of Kar Sevaks in Ayodhya.
• Kalyan Singh became the CM of UP in 1991 and acquired 2.77 acres of land around the disputed structure and handed over to Ram Janmbhoomi Nyas Trust as a lease. 
• Kalyan Singh took many steps to support the movement led by VHP in 1992, such as making the entry to the disputed structure easy, promising no firing on Kar Sevaks, no deployment of central forces in disputed area etc. Thousands of Kar Sevaks gathered in Ayodhya and started the Kar-Seva as making preparations for Ram Mandir in future. Prime Minister requested VHP and Babri Action Committee to solve the dispute by talks, both agreed; talks started but due to rigid behavior of Babri Action Committee talk failed. VHP announced to resume Kar-Seva from December 6, 1992. Disputed structure was demolished by the Kar Sevaks on December 6, 1992. A temporary temple of clothes has been made by Kar Sevaks and worship resumed. Central government dismissed all four BJP governments in different states like MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat and also in UP, and set up a commission of inquiry under Justice Libran. 
• Three months after the setting up Libran commission stared inquiry in 1993 and started questioning some political personalities, some bureaucrats, some police and other security agencies.
• Each anniversary of demolition of the disputed structure was being celebrated by VHP and RSS as a big achievement in 1993 and onwards.
• VHP had put a demand of a temporary temple at the demolished site in 1994 and applied to almost all the authorities till 2000, but none of the authorities responded on it.
• On the ninth anniversary of demolition of Babri VHP announced the construction of temple at the demolished place in 2001.
• Again hundreds of Kar Sevaks joined the movement for construction of temple in 2002. The proposed Kar-Seva was postponed on the request of government but an unfortunate incident took place in Godhra, Gujarat, Kar Sevaks were attacked by Muslims in train and hundreds of Kar Sevaks were killed by burning in the coaches. Riot spread and thousands of people were killed.
• The court ordered a survey in 2003 to find out the existence of any Hindu temple on the disputed land especially below the disputed structure, and the survey accepted the existence of a temple in the foundation of the disputed structure.
• Seven Hindu leaders from VHP and BJP had been ordered by the court in 2003 to face trial for inciting the destruction of Babri structure.
• Five terrorists attacked the site of the makeshift Ram Lalla temple on 5 July 2005 with bombs and bullet fires, all five terrorists were killed.
• The Libran commission submitted the report in 2009, but government denied publishing the contents publically.
• Allahabad high court pronounced its verdict on four title suits relating to the Ram Janmbhoomi Babri dispute on 30 September 2010 to divide the disputed land into three parts, one third to Ram Lalla, one third to Nirmohi Akhada and rest one third to Muslims.
• None of the stake holders accepted the verdict of Allahabad High court and all moved to Supreme Court in December 2010.
• Central government took the case on priority as a result Supreme Court had to set up a five judge constitution bench headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and started final hearing on 6 August 2019.
• Final hearing concluded on 16 October 2019 and Supreme Court kept the final judgment reserved.
• Final judgment on Ayodhya dispute delivered on 9 November 2019, Supreme Court ordered them to be handed over to the trust to build the Ram temple.
• Central government announced the formation of a trust for construction Ram temple at the birth place of Lord Ram on 5 February 2020.
• PM Narendra Modi places foundation stone for construction of most awaited Ram Mandir at the birth place of Lord Ram on 5 August 2020.
• Our dream became true Ram Mandir is inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on 22 January 2024 with announcement that Ram is the faith of Bharat, Ram is the foundation of Bharat, Ram is the idea of Bharat, Ram is the law of Bharat, Ram is the prestige of Bharat, Ram is the glory of Bharat, Ram is the leader of Bharat and Ram is the policy of Bharat.