1865.] Report of the Archceological Survey. 241 



309. The identity of Sdketa and Ayodhya has, I believe, always 

 been admitted ; but I am not aware that any proof has yet been offered 

 to establish the fact. Csoma-de-Koros in speaking of the place merely 

 says "Saketana or Ayodhya," and H. H. Wilson, in his Sanskrit Diction- 

 ary, calls Sdketa " the city Ayodhya." But the question would appear 

 to be set at rest by several passages of the Raniayana and Raghuvansa, 

 in which Sdketnagara is distinctly called the Capital of Raja Dasaratha 

 and his sons. But the following verse of the Ramayana, which was 

 pointed out to me by a Brahman of Lucknow, will be sufficient to 

 establish the identity. Aswajita, father of Kaikeyi, offers to give his 

 daughter to Dasaratha, Rajah of Sdketanagara : — . 



Saketam Nagaram Eaja Namna Dasaratho bali. 

 Tasmai deya, Kaya Manya, Kaikeyi Namato jana. 



310. The ancient city of Ayodhya or Saketa is described in the 

 Ramayana as situated on the bank of the Sarayu or Sarju River. It 

 is said to have been 12 Yojans, or nearly 100 miles in circumference, 

 for which we should probably read 12 kos, or 24 miles — an extent 

 which the old city, with all its gardens, might once possibly have 

 covered. The distance from the Guptdr Grhat on the west, to the Ram 

 Grhat on the east, is just 6 miles in a direct line, and if we suppose 

 that the city with its suburbs and gardens formerly occupied the whole 

 intervening space to a depth of two miles, its circuit would have agreed 

 exactly with the smaller measurement of 12 kos. At the present 

 day the people point to Ram Ghat and G-uptar Grhat as the eastern 

 and western boundaries of the old city, and the southern boundary 

 they extend to Rharat-Kund, near Bhadarsd, a distance of 6 kos. But 

 as these limits include all the places of pilgrimage, it would seem that 

 the people consider them to have been formerly inside the city, which 

 was certainly not the case. In the Ayin Akbari, the old city is said 

 to have measured 148 kos in length by 36 kos in breadth, or in other 

 words it covered the whole of the Province of Oudh to the south of the 

 Ghaghra River. The origin of the larger number is obvious. The 12 

 Yojans of the Ramayana, which are equal to 48 kos, being considered 

 too small for the great city of Rama, the Brahmans simply added 100 

 kos to make the size tally with their own extravagant notions. The 

 present city of Ajudhya, which is confined to the north-east corner of 

 the old site, is just two miles in length by about three-quarters of a 



