Ram Janmabhoomi

Ram Janmabhoomi, traditionally held to be the birthplace of Rama, lies within the old fortress of Ramkot at Ayodhya, on the Sarayu river in Awadh. The Ramayana presents Ayodhya as the capital of Kosala and the city where Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, was born.

The settlement was known as Saketa in the early centuries and took the name Ayodhya under the Guptas. In 1337 the city belonged to the Delhi Sultanate, passing in 1394 to the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.

In 1528 and 1529 Mir Baqi, a commander of the emperor Babur, built the Babri Masjid on Ramkot; Hindu tradition holds that it replaced a temple marking Rama's birthplace, and devotees continued to worship Rama at a platform beside the mosque. The site remained one of the great Vaishnava pilgrimage goals of northern India under the Nawabs of Awadh.