LUCKNOW: Groundwork to pitch for coveted Unesco heritage city tag for Ayodhya, the land of Lord Ram, has begun.
Ayodhya district administration has commissioned a survey to build a strong case for temple town.
Vice-chancellor of Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (Faizabad) Prof Manoj Dixit, who is also a member of the high-level team constituted to take the project forward, said: “Ayodhya is a confluence of faith. Ayodhya is as important to Hindus as Vatican is to Christians and Mecca to Muslims. The temple town has all the elements of a heritage city.”
“Ayodhya is the seat of religious leaders associated with Islam, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism which makes it extremely unique,” he added.
The initial proposal was prepared by Faizabad University and Asian Cultural Landscape Association, a body of landscape professionals dedicated to cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary study of cultural landscapes in both governmental and non-governmental organizations in 38 Asian countries.
The proposal has also been vetted by experts from BHU.
“Our contention is that the core of Ayodhya is a living heritage. It is a centre of both tangible and non-tangible forms of heritage and deserves to be a heritage city. Ayodhya fulfills seven out of ten parameters laid down by Unesco in its technical criteria for heritage city status,” said Sarvesh Kumar, secretary, ASLA, and a faculty member at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University.
For example, in Unesco’s category of ‘Exhibiting interchange of human values in architecture and monuments’, the report said: “In (Ayodhya) city alone, there are around 2,000 Hindu shrines and temples, 100 Muslim shrines and mosques, five Jain temples symbolizing birth places (including that of first Jain Tirthankar Rishabhadev), five Sikh gurdwaras and Buddhist ancient sites. .”
Officials said field activities would begin as soon as the financial aspect of the exercise is worked out.
Ayodhya district administration has commissioned a survey to build a strong case for temple town.
Vice-chancellor of Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University (Faizabad) Prof Manoj Dixit, who is also a member of the high-level team constituted to take the project forward, said: “Ayodhya is a confluence of faith. Ayodhya is as important to Hindus as Vatican is to Christians and Mecca to Muslims. The temple town has all the elements of a heritage city.”
“Ayodhya is the seat of religious leaders associated with Islam, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism which makes it extremely unique,” he added.
The initial proposal was prepared by Faizabad University and Asian Cultural Landscape Association, a body of landscape professionals dedicated to cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary study of cultural landscapes in both governmental and non-governmental organizations in 38 Asian countries.
The proposal has also been vetted by experts from BHU.
“Our contention is that the core of Ayodhya is a living heritage. It is a centre of both tangible and non-tangible forms of heritage and deserves to be a heritage city. Ayodhya fulfills seven out of ten parameters laid down by Unesco in its technical criteria for heritage city status,” said Sarvesh Kumar, secretary, ASLA, and a faculty member at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University.
For example, in Unesco’s category of ‘Exhibiting interchange of human values in architecture and monuments’, the report said: “In (Ayodhya) city alone, there are around 2,000 Hindu shrines and temples, 100 Muslim shrines and mosques, five Jain temples symbolizing birth places (including that of first Jain Tirthankar Rishabhadev), five Sikh gurdwaras and Buddhist ancient sites. .”
Officials said field activities would begin as soon as the financial aspect of the exercise is worked out.
