Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/84

 AJO has some small assignments of land in this, and in thfe Gonda district. Ram Das, the present mahant, is seventh in succession from the local founder of the order.

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The Mahdnirbdni sect. Mahant Parsotam Das came to Ajodhya from Kota Bundi in the days of Shuja-ud-daula, and built a temple at Ajodhya. Dayal Das, the present incumbent, is the sixth in succession. He has twenty-five disciples, the great majority of whom are itinerant mendicants. The word Mahanirbani implies the worshipping of God without asking for favours, either in this world or the next.

The Santokhi sect—Mahant Rati Ram arrived at Ajodhya from Jaipur Mansdr Ali Khan, and building a temple founded this order. Two or three generations after him the temple was abandoned by his followers, and one Niddhi Singh, an influential distiller in the days of the ex-king, took the site and built thereon another temple. After this, Khushal Das of this order returned to Ajodhya and lived and died under an Asok tree, and there the temple, which is now used by the fraternity, was built by Ramkishan Das, the present head of the comin the days of

munity.

The Niralambhi sect— Sri Birmal Das is said to have come from Kota, in the time of Shuj^-ud-daula, and to have built a temple in Ajodhya, but it was afterwards abandoned. Subsequently Narsingh Das of this order erected a new building near Darshan Singh's temple. The present head of the fraternity is Ram Sewak, and they are dependent solely on the offerings of pilgrims.

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The Janamasthdn and other temples. It is locally affirmed that at the conquest there were three important Hindu shrines, with but few devotees attached, at Ajodhya, which was then little other than a wilderness. These were the " Janamasthan," the " Swargaddwar inandir" also known as " Ram Darbar," " Treta-ke-Thakur."

Muhammadan

On the first of these the Emperor Babar built the mosque, which still bears his name, A. D. 1628. On the second, Aurangzeb did the same, A.D. 1658 to 1707 ; and on the third, that sovereign or his predecessors built a mosque, according to the well-known Muhammadan principle of enforcing their religion on all those whom they conquered. The Janamasthdn marks the place where Ram Chandar was bom. The Swargaddwar is the gate through which he passed into paradise, possibly the spot where his body was burned. The Treta-ke-Thakur was famous as the place where Rama performed a great sacrifice, and which he commemorated by setting up there images of himself and Sita.

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Bdhar's mosque. According to Leyden's Memoirs of Bdbar, that Emperor encamped at the junction of the Serwa and Gogra rivers two or three hos east from Ajodhya, on the 28th March 1528, and there he halted seven or eight days, settling the surrounding country. well-known hunting ground is spoken of in that work, seven or eight Jcos above Oudh, on the banks of the Sarju. It is remarkable that in all the copies of Babar's life now known, the pages that relate to his doings at Ajodhya are wanting.

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