This article is about the birthplace of Rama according to Hindu beliefs. For the debate on whether a temple existed at Babri Masjid site or not, see Ayodhya dispute.
Ram Janmabhoomi (lit.'Birthplace of Rama') is the site that, according to Hindu religious beliefs, is the birthplace of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deityVishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the banks of the Sarayu river in a city called "Ayodhya". Modern-day Ayodhya is in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is contested whether the Ayodhya mentioned in the Ramayana is the same as the modern city.[2][3]
Some Hindus claim that the exact site of Rama's birthplace is within the grounds where the Babri Masjid once stood in the present-day Ayodhya,[4] with this belief extending back to at least 1822.[3] It has been suggested that a temple to Rama formerly existed at the same site as the Babri Masjid until it was replaced by the mosque, an idea supported by a court-ordered report of the Archaeological Survey of India following archaeological excavations around the ruins of the mosque, though the existence of this temple and the conclusions of the report are disputed.[5][6]
The idols of Rama and Sita were placed in the mosque in 1949 and the devotees begin to gather from the next day.[7][8] In 1992, the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindu nationalists triggered widespread Hindu-Muslim violence. The legal dispute over the property reached the Indian Supreme Court, which heard the title dispute cases from August to October 2019.[9][10] On 9 November 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Hindu parties and ordered the land to be handed over to a trust to build a Hindu temple.[11] The court also compensated the Muslims by providing them 5 acres of land to build a mosque. The court inferred that the foundation of the mosque was based on the walls of a large pre existing structure dating back to the 12th century whose architectural features are suggestive of Hindu religious origin.[12] The Supreme Court however concluded that there is time gap between the construction of the pre existing structure in 12th century and the construction of mosque in 16th century and no conclusion on the cause of destruction of the underlying structure from this era can be drawn based on the ASI report.[12] The temple was later inaugurated in January 2024.[13]