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Ayodhya isn't that Ayodhya, says archaeologist

M S Shanker in Hyderabad

The Ayodhya where the temple controversy is located is not the Ayodhya where Lord Ram was reputedly born, says Methukumalli Venkata Narasimha Krishna Rao, former deputy superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India. According to him, the original Ayodhya was situated in Banala, Haryana, and the king's interest lay east, not south.

Rao is not small fry on the archaeological circuit. He has headed the Indus civilisation project during his four decade-long association with the ASI and was famed for his ability to decipher ancient scripts. He also wrote a book, Indus Script Deciphered.

According to him, at the beginning of the present century archaeologists unearthed some very important clay tablets, stone stela (carved or inscribed stone slab or pillar used for commemorative purposes) with inscriptions and other art objects. These, he says provided significant information about Ram-sin, the king of Larsa and the king of all lands (1753 to 1693 BC), and about Hammurabi, a king of the first dynasty of Babylonia (1725 to 1682 BC), who became famous for establishing an empire and for furnishing a law code.

According to Rao, Ram-sin and Ramasana of the Indus seals, and Ramachandra of the epic Ramayana show many similarities. Likewise, Rakshasa king Ravana of the Indus seal could be identified with King Hammurabi. Rao says he established this correlation after failing to find any prerequisite characteristics for a capital city at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Even Ravana's Lanka, believed to be Ceylon as claimed by the Puranas, is located elsewhere, he says.

"A glance at the readings on the stone stela will tempt us to inquire into the identity of the two distinguished kings, Ramasana and Ravana, in relation to the cities of the Indus civilisation and Baba or Babylonia," Rao says.

According to him, Ram-sin, whose name is read in the Indus seals as Ramasana, was the son of Kudur Mabug (or Mabhana in the Indus seals) and reigned in Larsa (Modern Sankera in Iraq). "Rim" in Sumerian means "ruler" and "Ramman" or "Rama" was the Amorite name of the god of thunder.

"Sin" stood for the moon god in Akkadian and "Sana" was the god of thunderstorms in the Indus language. Before his accession to the throne of Larsa in Sumer, Ram-Sin's brother Arad-Sin ruled for 12 years. His father Kudur Mabug reigned in Jamutbal, a kingdom on the coast of the Persian Gulf, east of the river Tigris adjoining Elam.

"This name is identical with Jabuna, Sapuna or Jambudvipa of the Indus language. He appears to be an Aryan chief ruling over the Elamites, the Sumerians and the Aryans of the Indus civilisation," he says.

Under Kudur Mabug and his two sons, Larsa rose to prominence and controlled all Sumerian cities, like Isin, Larsa, Ur, Umma, Lagash, Opis, Elam and the Indus valley.

Ram-sin, says Rao, became a very powerful chief and obtained the title "King of All Lands" by the consent of the goddess Nin-Makh in Opis city. His military activity in Babylonia extended over a period of 56 years, contending all the while for the supremacy over the cities of Larsa, Isin and Ur, with Sin Muballit (Mupatara of Indus seals) and his successors Hammurabi (Baba-Ranapi of Indus seals) and Samsu-iluna. During this time, the cities Isin and Larsa changed hands several times. Every able ruler of Babylonia, Susa and the Indus civilisation tried hard to keep control of this prestigious, most ancient and sacred Sumerian city.

It was thought that Ram-sin died at 80 in the flames of his palace at Opis, his second capital, after being defeated by Samsu-iluna. But, says, Rao, there is ample proof that Ram-sin returned to Indus cities like Kalibangan and Banavali to recruit Kassite horsemen for his final and crucial battle against Samsu-iluna.

Several seals and sealings recovered from the Indus cities prove his presence in the Indus valley, says Rao, adding that it is not known though whether he personally led this expedition at his advanced age or put one of his commanders or his son in charge of the army.

"We have inscriptional evidence that his son carried out the war with Samsu-iluna after Ram-sin's death. We have recorded evidence that Isin and Ur were taken back from Samsu-iluna by the later rulers of the sealand (Chaldaea) whose main centre of power, according to the desciphered Indus seals, was around the Mohenjodaro, Sind and Gujarat region, and who ruled Sumer and Babylonia for about 150 years after the fall of the first dynasty of Babylonia," says Rao.

And so what happens to the Ayodhya now touted as Ram's birthplace?

Sorry, he says, excavation at Ayodhya has failed to establish that it had the characteristics of a capital. However, he offers some consolation for the defenders of the Ayodhya temple plan, saying the Babri Masjid was indeed built on a temple.

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