Sāketa
{{Short description|Sanskrit appellation of Ayodhya}}
{{For|the place named after it in Delhi|Saket (Delhi)}}
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{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}
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Sākēta ({{Langx|sa|साकेत|translit=Sākēta}}) is a Sanskrit appellation of the Indian city of Ayodhya.{{Cite book |last1=Allchin |first1=F. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5kI02_zW70C&dq=Saketa+Ayodhya&pg=PA298 |title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States |last2=Erdosy |first2=George |date=1995-09-07 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-37695-2 |pages=298 |language=en}} Sākēta can be alternatively used for the abode of Vaikuṇṭha in Hindu epics, where liberated souls dwell.{{cite book|author=Tulasīdāsa|title=Gosvāmī Tulasīdāsakr̥ta Śrīrāmacaritamānasa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BiYt00x5tcQC&pg=PA892|accessdate=25 July 2013|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0443-2|pages=892–}} "Sākēta", the name of the Ayodhya Kingdom was later widespread by Buddhist travellers and far away traders for the collective name of the region's under this Kingdom. Overall, according to early chronicles found in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Sanskrit literature and Ramayana and Ramacharitamanasa the city bears the name of Ayodhya Kingdom, not Sākēta.
In literature
Saket (1932), a famous Hindi epic poem by Maithili Sharan Gupt, a modern-version of Ramacharitamanasa, which described an ideal Hindu society and Rama as an ideal man.{{cite book|author=Kuśa Satyendra|title=Dictionary Of Hindu Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcAwrV60cpAC&pg=PA71|accessdate=25 July 2013|year=2000|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-7625-159-4|pages=71–}}{{cite book|author=Gilbert Pollet|title=Indian Epic Values: Rāmāyaṇa and Its Impact : Proceedings of the 8th International Rāmāyaṇa Conference, Leuven, 6-8 July 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVnK3q48dL0C&pg=PA198|accessdate=25 July 2013|year=1995|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-6831-701-5|pages=198–}} It is an account of the Ramayana through the eyes of Urmila, daughter of King Janaka of Mithila and the younger sister of Sita, who later became wife of Lakshmana.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}
In Buddhism
In Buddhism, the place is thought to be where the sons of Okkaka founded a city.{{Cn|date=July 2021}} Saketa, is one of the major cities of Kosala in early Buddhist texts{{Cite book |last=Noorani |first=A.G. |title=The Babri Masjid Question, 1528-2003: 'A Matter of National Honour' |date=2014 |publisher=Tulika Books |isbn=9789382381457 |pages=29}}
Ayodhya signifies a great importance in the Buddhist literature. It is referred to as Saketa in traditional Buddhist literature. British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham who was also the first director general of the ASI identified three Buddhist places — Mani Parbat, Kuber Parbat and Sugriv Parbat at the site of Ayodhya.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}
In Jainism
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{HinduMythology}}
Category:Places in Hindu mythology
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