Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan (Research Institute)

Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan is the scholarly engine of Ayodhya's devotional life — a cultural research institute established in August 1986 by the Department of Culture, Government of Uttar Pradesh, to gather, preserve and study the vast tangible and intangible heritage of the Ramayana.

• Housed within Tulsi Smarak Bhawan, the graceful memorial hall raised in honour of the sixteenth-century saint-poet Goswami Tulsidas near Ram Ki Paidi on the banks of the Sarayu, the institute carries forward Ayodhya's ancient identity as a seat of learning as much as of worship.
• In December 2023 its mandate was formally widened and it was renamed the International Ramayan and Vedic Shodh Sansthan, reflecting a scope that now reaches across continents.
• The Sansthan's work is quietly monumental.
• It maintains manuscripts, rare texts, photographs and audio-visual records of the Ramayana tradition in its many regional and international forms — from the Awadhi Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas to the Ramayana retellings of Southeast Asia, and the living Ramlila performances staged from Ayodhya to Bali.
• Among its flagship undertakings are a multi-volume Global Encyclopedia of the Ramayana, the documentation of Ramlila troupes and folk traditions, and the annual International Ramayana Mela, a scholarly and cultural gathering that brings researchers, performers and devotees together.
• For the visitor, the institute functions as a modest museum and reference centre: display panels, published volumes and archival collections that trace how a single epic became a shared civilizational inheritance.
• A visit here suits the reflective traveller rather than the darshan-seeker in a hurry.
• The setting is serene, scholarly and unhurried; because it is a working government institution, casual visitors are welcome to view exhibits and enquire about publications, though the reading room and archives may require prior permission.
• Tulsi Smarak Bhawan itself hosts a daily evening Ram-katha recitation and Ramlila, so a late-afternoon visit pairs the institute's quiet galleries with an atmospheric devotional performance.
• For vegetarian pilgrims — and Ayodhya is a wholly pure-vegetarian, alcohol-free holy city — the surrounding Ram Ki Paidi and Ramkot lanes are dotted with pure-veg kachori-sabzi stalls, dahi-jalebi counters and peda shops, while the free Ram Rasoi and neighbourhood bhandaras serve simple sattvic meals to all.
• No food is sold inside the institute, so plan to eat a short walk away along the ghats.