Ayodhya

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India rebuffs Pakistan’s absurd claim on Ayodhya

In response to queries on a statement by Pakistan on commencement of construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, MEA Spokesperson, Anurag Srivastava said, " We have seen an absurd statement by Pakistan on a matter on which it has no locus standi. Given its record, Pakistan should be embarrassed to even mention minorities. After all, numbers don’t lie even if they do.”A day after Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli faced flak for claiming that the “real Ayodhya” lies in Nepal, the foreign ministry of Nepal issued a statement saying that the remarks were not political and had no intention of hurting anyone’s sentiments.

"“As there have been several myths and references about ‘Shri Ram’ and the places associated with him, the prime minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents, to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilisation.”" - Nepal’s Foreign Ministry

It was also pointed out, in the statement, that the remarks were not meant to debase the significance or the cultural value of Ayodhya.

According to Nepalese media house Khabarhub, Oli, speaking on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti at his residence, claimed “distortion of facts” with “India’s Ayodhya” as the birthplace of Lord Ram. Oli reportedly added that there is ‘dispute’ over Ayodhya’s location and that the actual Ayodhya is not where India claims.

“Ayodhya is at Thori, west of Birgunj, Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi,” he was quoted by Khabarhub as saying.

Oli’s claims come just weeks after his government amended its constitution, paving the way for inclusion of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in its maps – areas that have been a cause of dispute between India and Nepal.

Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal, he reportedly claimed.

While India officially has called Nepal’s territorial claims an “artificial enlargement not based on historical facts,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had claimed that the dispute will be resolved via dialogue as the two nations are connected by ‘roti and beti’.

ABOUT DISTRICT

Ayodhya is a city and the administrative headquarters of Faizabad district (officially Ayodhya district) of Uttar Pradesh, India. It shares municipal corporation with its neighbouring twin town of Faizabad. The city is identified with the legendary city of Ayodhya, and as such, is the birthplace of Rama and setting of the epic Ramayana. The accuracy of this identification is central to the Ayodhya dispute: modern scholars variously believe that the present-day Ayodhya is same as the legendary Ayodhya, or that the legendary city is a mythical place that came to be identified with the present-day Ayodhya only during the Gupta period around the 4th–5th century CE.

The word "Ayodhya" is a regularly formed derivation of the Sanskrit verb yudh, "to fight, to wage war". Yodhya is the future passive participle, meaning "to be fought"; the initial a is the negative prefix; the whole, therefore, means "not to be fought" or, more idiomatically in English, "invincible". This meaning is attested by the Atharvaveda, which uses it to refer to the unconquerable city of gods. The 9th century Jain poem Adi Purana also states that Ayodhya "does not exist by name alone but by the merit" of being unconquerable by enemies. Satyopakhyana interprets the word slightly differently, stating that it means "that which cannot be conquered by sins" (instead of enemies).

Under Mughal rule, the Babri mosque was constructed in Ayodhya. The city was the capital of the province of Awadh (later Anglicised to "Oudh"), which is also believed to be a variant of the name "Ayodhya."

Ayodhya is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu. In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, It is the headquarter of Ayodhya District and Ayodhya division. It forms a municipal corporation with Faizabad. Ayodhya, also known as Saket, is an ancient city of India, is the birthplace of Bhagwan Shri Ram and setting of the great epic Ramayana. It is adjacent to Faizabad city in the central region of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya used to be the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. It has an average elevation of 93 meters (305 feet). Owing to the belief as the birthplace of Bhagwan Shri Ram, Ayodhya (Awadhpuri) has been regarded as first one of the seven most important pilgrimage sites (Mokshdayini Sapt Puris) for Hindus.