1865.] Report of the Archeological 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 Ramayana and Raghuvansa, 
in which Séketnagara is distinctly called the Capital of Raja Dasaratha 
and his sons. But the following verse of the Ramayana, which was 
pointed out tome 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 :— 
SAketim Nagaram Raja Namna Dasaratho bali. 
Tasmai dey’ Kay& Many& Kaikeyi Nimato jana. 
310. The ancient city of Ayodhya or Siaketa is described in the 
Ramayana as situated on the bank of the Sarayw 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 Guptdér Ghat on the west, to the Ram 
Ghat 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 Guptir Ghat as the eastern 
and western boundaries of the old city, and the southern boundary 
they extend to Bharat-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 

