The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t19.13

c6.s3.t19.13

The identity of *Sáketa* 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 Körös,* in speaking of the place, merely says “*Saketana* or Ayodhya,” and H. H. Wilson, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, calls *Sáketa* “the city Ayodhya.” But the question would appear to be set at rest by several passages of the ‘Râmâyana’ and ‘Raghuvansa,’† in which *Sâketanagara* is generally called the capital of Raja Dasaratha and his sons. But the following verse of the ‘Râmâyana,’ 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, Raja of *Sâketanagara*:—