The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.47

v1.c24.47

From the evidence both of Vedic literature and of the Purāṇas it appears that the Ikshvākus were originally a branch of the Pūrus. They were kings of Kosala, the country which lay to the east of the Kurus and Pañchālas and to the west of the Videhas, from whom it was separated by the river Sadānīra, probably the Great Gandak. This territory was practically the modern province of Oudh. The chief cities were Ayodhyā (Ajodhyā on the Gogrā in the Fyzābād District) with which the Sāketa of Buddhist writers was probably either identical or closely associated, and Çrāvasti (Set Mahet in the Gondā District). In story Ayodhyā is famous as the city of Daçaratha, the father of Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa. Both of these characters, who may possibly have been historical, are assigned by the Purāṇas to a dim and distant period long before the beginning of the Kali Age.