When the Babri Masjid episode happened nearly three decades ago, it was the elegant royal family of Ayodhya that took the statue of Shri Ram into its palace temple. On 5 August 2020 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, no doubt, Raja Bimlendra Pratap Singh, being one of the members of the Ram Janmabhoomi foundation, was excited.
The history of the royalty of Ayodhya is very old. The current Ayodhya dynasty is associated with the lineage of King Darshan Singh. Bimalendra Mohan Pratap is the eldest son of the Mishra dynasty.
However, the Ayodhya family has a unique connection with the royal family of South Korea. Some 2,000 years ago, Ayodhya’s princess sailed to Kaya kingdom, now Kimhae city in South Korea. She fell in love with its ruler, Kim Suro, and they got married.
Keeping this historical connection in mind, Bimlendraji was invited to Korea. He recalls, “In 1999 the then Prime Minister, John Pilkin, invited me to Korea. I told him that the princess was of the earlier dynasty. But since my family was the titular heads of the state in 1947, I was invited to Korea and their delegation came to Ayodhya and constructed a shrine by the Saryu river in the memory of their princess who was the founder of the Kim dynasty.”
In the South Korean literature, Ayodhya is referred to as Ayuta. The Korean text, Samguk Yusa, authored by the monk Iryon, mentions the temple city’s Korean connection. Hence as the foundation stone of the Ram temple was laid in Ayodhya on 5 August, echoes of the celebration must have been heard in Korea as well.
