The Sankalpa Suryodaya is an play by the 13th century Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desikan. At one point in the play, a king goes around the world in a Vimana looking for a good place to meditate. He visits various sacred places, but rejects most of them for various reasons. Here is how Ayodhya is described:
[T]hese sacrifical posts that we see here are the very posts to which the animals were tied in accordance with the rules when the Lord (Sri Rama) performed Ashwamedha sacrifices.... In the parks here, large numbers of parrots repeat the three Vedas; it may be inferred from this at every instant that in former times, Vedic dharma was observed here (in its fullness). The bank of the Sarayu, though for a long time without the sound of men, looks beautiful on account of the large number of sacrificial posts adorned with gems which were planted by the kings of the race of the Raghus.... [T]his region, too, is now infested by groups of heretics who have put a stop to the dharma of the Krita Yuga and is abandoned now by serene souls who are deeply absorbed in renunciation.
My question is, are Rama's sacrificial posts still there in Ayodhya today?
They were there in Vedanta Desikan's time. But that was the time of the Muslim invasions, so it's possible that they were destroyed after that, just like Rama Janma Bhoomi. In any case, if they are still there, are the gems adorning them also still there?
