84 Kos Parikrama Marg in Ayodhya to be a national highway: Everything to know

This parikrama is carried out by a mere 100 to 150 devotees a year. (Representational image)

84 Kos Parikrama Marg: The 84 Kos Parikrama Marg around Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya is being declared a national highway, as was announced by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in a Twitter post last week. He said that a draft notification had been issued to the effect, and the Centre’s decision was welcomed by CM Yogi Adityanath. The Chief Minister said that the move was a step towards the restoration of Ayodhya’s ancient glory, adding that the new national highway would also boost religious tourism, according to a report in IE.

Ayodhya has three parikramas – 5 kos, which is about 15 km, 14 kos, which is 42 km, and 84 kos which is around 275 km – and all of them are in relation to Lord Ram, which is why they have religious significance. While the 5 kos parikrama circumambulates the inner circle in Ayodhya within which the heart of Lord Ram’s kingdom was situated, the 14 kos parikrama is for the main Ayodhya city as it was back then. The 84 kos parikrama, however, touches all of the important places that are linked to the kingdom of Lord Ram.

On the banks of river Manorama, about 20 km from the city of Ayodhya, it is said that King Dasharath, father of Lord Ram, performed a yajna, to be blessed with vaccines. Accordingly, the 84 kos parikrama commences as well as culminates from this place where the yajna was held, and this place is called Makhaura now, located in Basti, with the parikrama lasting for a period of about 22 days. The parikrama is performed on foot and across the route, there are 25 stops as well as more places to rest. This parikrama is carried out by a mere 100 to 150 devotees a year, as against thousands of those who can complete the other two shorter parikramas.

However, the parikrama at the moment consists of 15 mostly single-lane roads, and they go through five different districts, which is why upgrading the route to a national highway would be difficult, the report added.