पृष्ठ:तुलसी की जीवन-भूमि.pdf/२८२

(२७९) under the Musalmans, who made it the seat of government for a large province. That it was still regarded as a holy spot by the Hindus is clear from the fact of its desecration by Babar and Aurangzeb, but it would appear that the presence of Muhammadan governor and his court kept the Hindu shrines continu- ally in the background. Ajodhya was a mint- town of Akbar and Muhammad Shah, some dams of the latter being inscribed “Akhtarnagar Awadh." It is not clear when Ajodhya first be- gan to assume its present proportions: the change presumably occurred when the capital was remo- ved to the new city of Fyzabad and the Qila Mubarak or fort of Saadat Khan near Lachh- manghat was adandoned for his country resi- dence at the “Bangla". With the departure of the court the Hindus were left to themselves, and numerous temples and monasteries aprang into existence. Probably the rise in importance was in some degree due to the growing popula- rity of the Ramayan of Tulsi Das. The progress has been even more rapid 'since annexation, but before the middle of the nineteenth century Ajodhya was regarded as a great and even dangerous stronghold of Hinduism, as the con- .