File:Shri_Ram_Janambhoomi_Mandir,_Ayodhya_Dham.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ186040· pop 73· linked from 1,086 articles

Ayodhya

Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became the top tourist destination of Uttar Pradesh with 110 million visitors in the first half of 2024, surpassing Varanasi.

OverviewAI-generated

Ayodhya is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It serves as the capital of both Ayodhya district and Ayodhya division. The city has a population of 55,890 and covers an area of 79.8 square kilometers. Its elevation above sea level is recorded as 93 meters. The local postal code is 224123, and the dialing code is 5276.

The city is situated in the UTC+05:30 time zone. Its native label is अयोध्या. Ayodhya is described in sources such as Nordisk familjebok and The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Open Meteo, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Weather now

cached 23h ago

25°light rain

95% 5.4 m/s OpenWeatherMap

7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: Ayodhya
Region: Uttar Pradesh
Country: India
Population: 53,293
Timezone: Asia/Kolkata

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

90US AQIModerate

PM2.5: 33.2 µg/m³
PM10: 33.4 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-11 05:30 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Settlement.name: Ayodhya
Settlement.settlement_type: City
Settlement.nicknames: Ram Nagri, The Temple Town
Settlement.pushpin_map: India Uttar Pradesh#India3
Settlement.pushpin_label_position: left
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption: location in India and Uttar Pradesh
Settlement.subdivision_type: Country
Settlement.subdivision_type1: State
Settlement.subdivision_type2: Division
Settlement.subdivision_type3: District
Settlement.subdivision_name1: Uttar Pradesh
Settlement.subdivision_name2: Ayodhya
Settlement.subdivision_name3: Ayodhya
Settlement.government_type: Municipal Corporation
Settlement.governing_body: Ayodhya Municipal Corporation
Settlement.leader_title: Mayor
Settlement.leader_name: Girish Pati Tripathi
Settlement.leader_party: BJP

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Buy

You can buy Ramnama towel, chundri, kurta and handicraft bags, tulsi mala, ramdana, Ramayana, books, sweet ball (laddoo).

Eat

Meat sales are banned within the of Ram Mandir since February 2026, making Ayodhya one of the few Indian cities to effectively ban selling meat. So, eating options are limited to local vegetarian shops and restaurants.

Drink

You can get water, fruit juice, cold drinks, etc.

Sleep

Various Vaishnava Mutts maintain community halls near the temple area. Devotees can stay for free or for a lower cost.

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~31 min read

Encyclopedic overview

30 sections

Contents

Etymology
History
As Saketa
Gupta period
Decline as a political centre
Early medieval period
Mughal period
British period
Independent India
Ram temple
Demographics
Geography and climate
Places of interest
Ram Mandir
Hanuman Garhi Fort
Ramkot
Nageshwarnath Temple
Shri Valmiki Ramayana Bhawan
Other places of interest
Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok
Sister cities
Transportation
Road
Rail
Flight
See also
References
Sources
Further reading
External links

The settlement was historically known as Sāketa until it was renamed to Ayodhya during the Gupta period. The early Buddhist and Jain canonical texts mention that the religious leaders Gautama Buddha and Mahavira visited and lived in the city. The Jain texts also describe it as the birthplace of five tirthankaras namely, Rishabhanatha, Ajitanatha, Abhinandananatha, Sumatinatha and Anantanatha, and associate it with the legendary Bharata Chakravarti. From the Gupta period onwards, several sources mention Ayodhya and Saketa as the name of the same city.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ayodhya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.