Ayodhya, a small city in Uttar Pradesh settled on the bank of the Saryu river and is run by Ayodhya municipal corporation. along with it is the administrative capital of Faizabad district now known as Ayodhya district as up government changed the name of Faizabad to Ayodhya in November 2018. Faizabad officially Ayodhya is situated on the southern bank of the Saryu river.
It is a city of religious significance not only for Hindus but also for Buddhism and Jainism. apart from the known fact that it is the birthplace of Bhagwan shri Ram a lesser-known fact is its connection with Buddhism and Jainism, as according to Jain inscriptions it is also the birthplace of five JainTirthkarans. it is encompassed in the list of Saptpuri cited in the Garun puran.
We visited Ayodhya ji ' The city of Shri Ram' on the second day after Holi 2023. It is quite fascinating to walk in a land of historical importance it was giving the satisfaction of beyond level to breathe in the atmosphere where lord Shri Ram has taken birth, where the cornerstone of the great Epic Ramayan had been laid.
Our train timing was 10:30am from Varanasi cant and like our any other trip this time again we were reached in exact time but our train was late for half an hour so we were waiting on the platform meanwhile reminiscing about Amma's last trip via train that she had taken in 2002 ...yes 21 years gone to her last trip via train ...such a drastic thing to feel.
Breaking the coherence of our conversation the train arrived at the station, and we started to walk in a relaxing speed because the halt timing was 10 minutes which is more than enough to settle in our reserved berths.
Though we have our 3 tickets reserved in the sleeper but all scattered birth we found because of the unavailability of thrice tickets together but we were expecting to sit together as the real joy of the journey lies either in an entire solo trip or in tidy togetherness... fortunately, we managed to sit together after all people are way helpful to strangers. So yaa this way we set to go on our journey to Ayodhya.
Throughout the paving we encountered plenty of greeneries, there were farm and farm and farm one after another and I think two ponds or small rivers we saw, undoubtedly was exciting to see filled water in between terrain lands.
We reached the Ayodhya junction exactly at 3:45pm, last hour was a little wilting cause of unusual halts.
After freshening up firstly we went to Hanumanghadi, which is one of the major places of Ayodhya, according to the faith of devotees, Hanuman ji had started to live here to take care of the place of birth of his Prabhu after the victory of Shri Ram over Ravan. So it is said, Hanuman ji himself resides here.
It is also famous for the smallest idol of Pawan Putra.
We visited this temple which has more than 60 stairs to reach the main garbhgreh. It is a place of spiritual peace.
Our second visited place was the Dasharath Mahal, within walking distance from Hanumanghadi, a humongous colorful building, people say about that it is made in the exact place where Raja Dasharath was residing in Treta Yug.
At present, it is in the temple form having idols of different lords whom people worship.
After getting out of Dashrath ji ka mahal we started to walk towards the most desired place that is Shri Ram Janm Bhumi by taking the road on the right side.
All the way around the road was not in order that's why walking is a little cumbersome as we all know the work of structuring the temple is in progress so in this respect encroachments were taken out so scuff and buff on the pave is not unusual though still there were some temporary shops, selling toys, idols, neckless, bindi, bags, and many more stuff.
The mainland of the temple is surrounded by a fence through which devotees can see the progress of making the temple, I was able to note mere pillars one or two because visibility was not that clear. By passing through the side shaded passage we came to a ram mandir where we worshipped together and took prasad.
Again by walking through the struggling pavement, we reached the main road, there were more than 3 e-rickshaw to ask for lifting to saryu ghat but unfortunately, we denied because Amma (grandmother) was feeling pain in her knees so we decided to go back towards the station. In between we sipped adarak chay with a butter bun, actually, we were seeking snacks but not found any shop before having this satisfactory refreshing sip, though we met some snacks shops near the station.
While waiting for the train we had our dinner and then just was chilling by walking on platforms, mobiling, lying on the bench, chit chat with strangers, and of course with one another. Then at 10pm, our train arrived and with this, our journey towards Varanasi started, we reached at 2:30am on Varanasi cant.
Though we have not covered all the places of this religious place that we will cover in our next trip to Ayodhya definitely... I want to sum up some more places to visit in Ayodhya...
Kanak Bhawan- It is a beautiful palace of Shri Ram and Mata Sita, gifted by Mata Kaikai in the Muh dekhai of Sita ji. Resembling the architecture of the Bundelkhand region this palace was the exclusive mansion of Sri Ram and Mata Sita.
Saryu ghat or Ram ki Paidi- One of the popular sights of Ayodhya that one can not afford to escape in his tour to Ayodhya. Beauty at its best, really alluring and relaxing sceneries you may fetch here. Apart from beauty, this place has significant religious beliefs.
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