Ayodhya is the Adipuri of Vishnu, his first city. It is the first among Saptapuri the seven Mokshadayini or salvation giving cities around India. It is the base for one of the two epics, the two Itihasa from India Ramayana. Poets like Valmiki, Tulsidas, Kalidas have written glorious accounts of Ayodhya, as have poets and storytellers in every other language in India. Translations of literary works and performances of various art forms have taken Ayodhya to the world wrapped in the story of Ramayana.

In the popular memory, it is the place where the seventh avatar of Vishnu, Sri Ramtook birth in Treta Yug. This is the city that he returned to rule from after his fourteen years of exile that took him across the country and even across the occan to Lanka. Ayodhya though has seen many more stories unfold on its land besides the story of Maryada Purushottam Ram. It has been a witness to a long line of illustrious kings of Suryavansh or the solar dynasty who ruled from here. Ayodhya Mahatmya of Skanda Puran captures the place as the land of Suryavanshi kings, as a pilgrimage place for the sages and common devotees across different eras and as a land that puts you on the path of Moksha. It is the Sthala Purana of the city of Vishnu, telling us the glory of the city through the stories of its various sacred spots, of the city that is believed to sit on Vishnu's Chakra, rising above the earth.

Skanda Puran is longest of the eighteen mahapuranas with more than 80,000 shlokas in it. It is divided into nine Khandas, each of which takes us to a different region and tells us about its scared geography. Ayodhya Mahatmya comes in the Vaishnav Khand of Skanda Puran.In 990 shlokas spread across 10 chapters, it takes us through the stories of each of the Tirtha Sthala or the holy spots in the city. In these stories, it covers the stories of many kings who ruled from Ayodhya, stories of many sages and devatas who performed tapasya here and the merits it brings for the common pilgrims. It talks about the various Yatras that happen around the year at each of these places mentioned in Ayodhya. All the stories put together create a cultural and spiritual history and heritage of Ayodhya, the very reason it is such an important Tirtha.

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