Ayodhya: Cradle of the Tirthankaras

The city of Ayodhya on the banks of the Sarayu river in Uttar Pradesh is famous across the whole of Indian civilisation, but for the Jain community it carries a very particular sanctity, for it is revered as the birthplace of no fewer than five Tirthankaras of the present cosmic age. Foremost among them is Adinatha, also known as Rishabhanatha, the very first Tirthankara, who according to Jain tradition inaugurated human civilisation, teaching mankind agriculture, crafts, and social order before renouncing the world to seek liberation.

Alongside Adinatha, Jain tradition holds that Ayodhya, called Vinita in the ancient texts, was the birthplace of Ajitanatha the second Tirthankara, Abhinandananatha the fourth, Sumatinatha the fifth, and Anantanatha the fourteenth. This makes Ayodhya one of the most important kalyanaka kshetras in all of Jainism, a place hallowed by the birth of multiple Tirthankaras and thus by the descent of enlightened souls into the world at the very dawn of the present age.

The Jain association with Ayodhya reaches back to the beginning of the Jain conception of history, for Adinatha is placed at the origin of the current cycle of time, when human beings first needed a teacher to guide them out of a state of nature. Ayodhya, as the capital of the earliest ordered society in the Jain account, is therefore the cradle not merely of individuals but of civilisation itself as the tradition understands it, and this gives the city a foundational place in Jain sacred memory.

The Jain temples of Ayodhya mark the sites associated with the births of these Tirthankaras and are maintained by pilgrim trusts, with shrines dedicated especially to Adinatha. The temples enshrine images of the Tirthankaras born in the city, and pilgrims come to honour the places where, according to their faith, these great souls first entered the world. Both the Digambara and Shvetambara traditions revere Ayodhya and maintain places of worship there.

For the Jain pilgrim, a visit to Ayodhya is a journey to the origins of the tradition, to the birthplace of the first teacher who set in motion the transmission of the dharma that would eventually reach Mahavira and the present community of believers. The devotional focus is on the kalyanaka sites, the hallowed spots where the auspicious event of a Tirthankara's birth is believed to have taken place, and these are honoured with worship and reverence.

Ayodhya lies in the Faizabad region of Uttar Pradesh and is exceptionally well connected by rail, road and increasingly by air to the rest of northern India, making it readily accessible to pilgrims. The Jain temples and dharamshalas welcome visitors, and the city can be combined with a broader pilgrimage through the tirthas of the Gangetic plain.

The winter months are the most comfortable time to visit, when the climate of the northern plains is cool and pleasant. For those tracing the lives of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, Ayodhya stands near the very beginning of the story, the place where the first light of the present age's teaching is believed to have appeared, and where five of the great enlightened souls of Jainism first drew breath upon the earth.