Ayodhya (Ayodhyā), also known as Sāket, is an ancient city of India, believed to be the birthplace of lord Rama. and setting of the epic Ramayana. It is adjacent to Faizabad city at the south end in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya used to be the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. I visited this holy city between July to August in 2011 for our fieldwork on Awadhi variety of Hindi (for Hindi Varieties Dictionaries Project of Central Institute of Hindi, Agra). In Ayodhya, I had met several holy men (Sadhus) living or transiting through the city. They were from all around the country. Some from as far as Assam and Maharashtra. Apart from the wealth of information, we gained by talking with them, here are some pictures, I clicked of the Sadhus I met in this holy city.
Look at the styles of markings on forehead (known as chāp छाप or Tilak तिलक) of each Sadhu. Sadhus distinguish among themselves by their special style of markings adopted by their respective schools.This chāp or Tilak is traditionally done with sandalwood paste and turmeric, lauded in Hindu texts for their purity and cooling nature.Tripundra त्रिपुण्ड्र is a tilak/chāp, which consists of three horizontal lines on the forehead, usually with a dot in the centre.
All images copyright – A. Avtans
Linguistica Indica 