Ayodhya: The Loss of Tangible Heritage

Abstract

The city of Ayodhya, India recognized as the birthplace of Lord Rama has a history of over 3000 years. Referred in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Atharvaveda, and other ancient texts as an unconquerable city of gods is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Hindus since time immemorial. Chinese, Greek and other European travelers have described it in its different periods of existence. The recorded tellings and re-tellings of the epic Ramayana done in different countries and languages of the world during last 30 centuries come to above 2500. The Tangible and Intangible Heritage related to the site stand as a testament to India’s great cultural tradition. This note provides a bird’s eye view of the history of the city and its temple of Lord Rama, repeated destruction and rebuilding of that occurred there, the final reclamation and the status of Tangible and Intangible Heritage of Ayodhya. It considers how using informatics and its expert systems that incorporates the knowledge of archaeologists, architects, historians, computer and communication technologists; and leveraging Artificial IntellgenceAI driven technologies to analyse archaeological data, recognize architectural style, materials and texture as well as simulate historical context of structures the site could have been recreated as they existed before their destruction by foreign invaders. Possible use of Informatics for virtual reconstruction of the site and the temple as they existed in different periods of history also is discussed.