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TraditionTreta Yuga (Ramayana)

Ayodhya, city of Rama

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh

A View of Part of the City of Oud
A View of Part of the City of Oud. William Hodges, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Ramayana's capital of Kosala, Rama's birthplace and seat, on the Sarayu.

The Valmiki Ramayana opens in Ayodhya, capital of the Ikshvaku kings of Kosala, and returns there for Rama's coronation.

Excavations by B. B. Lal in the late 1970s and by the ASI in 2003 found occupation going back at least to the Northern Black Polished Ware phase of the first millennium BCE. The Treta Yuga of tradition lies far beyond anything archaeology can date, which is why the two sit on separate tracks here.

  • religion

Sources

  1. Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda · Critical edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda (1960-75)
  2. B. B. Lal, excavations at Ayodhya (1975-80) · Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites project
  3. ASI, excavation report on Ayodhya (2003) · Excavation led by B. R. Mani for the Allahabad High Court