Ayodhya

Ayodhya's sacred memory reaches into the earliest layers of Hindu tradition. The Ramayana, the Atharva Veda, the Puranas, and the Skanda Purana's Ayodhya Mahatmya praise the city as the eternal seat of the Ikshvaku dynasty and the birthplace of Shri Ram. Buddhist and Jain traditions also remember her — Ayodhya is associated with five Jain Tirthankaras, and as Saketa she was an important early-historical city of the Kosala janapada.

Through the centuries Ayodhya has remained a city of temples, ascetics, and pilgrim families. The Ramanandi Sampradaya has its principal seat here. The Mughal-period sources mention Ayodhya as a city of mandirs along the Sarayu. The Hanuman Garhi temple was rebuilt by the Nawabs of Awadh in the mid-eighteenth century; the Kanak Bhawan was rebuilt by the Maharaja of Tikamgarh and his wife in the late nineteenth century.

The Ram Janmabhoomi site has been at the centre of a long and well-documented history. After many decades of legal proceedings, the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgement on 9 November 2019 granting the disputed site for the construction of a Ram temple. The foundation-laying ceremony (bhumi pujan) took place on 5 August 2020. The Pran Pratishtha of the murti of Ram Lalla in the new mandir was conducted on 22 January 2024 by the Acharyas of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, in the presence of the Prime Minister of India. The temple complex is being built in phases and is expected to be completed in the years ahead.

The new Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir is built in the Nagara style of north Indian temple architecture, designed by the Sompura family of Ahmedabad — temple architects whose lineage has worked on the Somnath rebuilt under Sardar Patel and on the Akshardham mandir in Delhi. The mandir is constructed in pink Bansi Paharpur sandstone from Rajasthan, on a high adhisthana. The grand garbhagriha holds the murti of Ram Lalla in Bal Roop, sculpted in Krishna-Shaila black stone by Arun Yogiraj of Mysuru. The temple complex spans about 70 acres and will eventually include shrines to Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman, Bharat, Shatrughna, the saptarishis, and Maharishi Valmiki.

Hanuman Garhi, atop a small hill in the heart of Ayodhya, is reached by climbing seventy-six steps. The shrine itself is intimate — a quadrangular structure with the murti of Hanuman as a child, said to be one of the most powerful expressions of Hanuman in north India.

Kanak Bhawan, the "Golden House," is built in the Bundeli style typical of Tikamgarh patronage. The sanctum holds three pairs of Ram-Sita murtis, the most prominent in golden ornament. Nageshwarnath is a simple riverbank Shiva shrine, traditionally held to have been installed by Kush, son of Shri Ram.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi mandir conducts five aratis through the day, beginning with the Mangala Arati shortly before sunrise (around 4:30 AM in summer) and ending with the Shayan Arati at night. Bookings for the aratis are made through the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust portal in advance; verify timings and slots with the Trust before travel as they shift seasonally. Hanuman Garhi and Kanak Bhawan run their own daily rhythms with morning and evening aratis open to all pilgrims without prior booking.

The traditional sequence is to begin at Hanuman Garhi, then Shri Ram Janmabhoomi (entry via the designated yatri gates and security checks), then Kanak Bhawan, then Nageshwarnath, and finally bathing and tarpan at the Sarayu Ghat. On Akshaya Navami in Kartik the full inner parikrama of Ayodhya is undertaken; the path is about fourteen kilometres long and is walked from the early hours of dawn.

Special pujas commonly arranged for pilgrims include Ram-naam sankirtan, recitation of the Ramcharitmanas or the Hanuman Chalisa, and abhishek at Nageshwarnath. Sarayu Snan and tarpan for ancestors are central to the yatra — Ayodhya is one of the major north Indian places for ancestor rites.