Queen of Ayodhya and South Korea Connection

South Korea and Indian temple town Ayodhya has two millennia-old ties which were discovered in last decade.

South Koreans discovered that a Princess or Queen of Ayodhya was married to Korean King Suro in the first century CE. Suro was the King of Kimhay kingdom or the present Korea. The Princess was married to the Korean King at the age of 16. The Koreans believe that the Princess was the mother of the descendants who unified various Korean kingdoms in the 7th century CE. Since the first century CE her descendants prospered and became the largest clan in Korea, known as the Karak, whose members had been highly distinguished people.

Ex-President of South Korea, Kim Dae-Jung (who died in 2009), believes that he is also a descendant of the Great Princess of Ayodhya.

She is regarded as the most blessed queen of Korea in the last 2,000 years, and Koreans believe that this could be due to the religious significance of the great temple city of Ayodhya where Lord Rama was born.

It is written in 11th-century Korean chronicle the Samguk Yusa, that the wife of King Suro of the ancient Korean kingdom of Geumgwan Gaya was a princess who traveled by boat from a faraway land called Ayuta to Korea in 48 AD.

Heo Hwang-ok (later named as Suro) is a legendary queen that mentioned in Samguk Yusa. She was the first queen of Geumgwan Gaya, and is considered the first queen of Gaya Kingdom.

People of Kimhae are fascinated by this link and also found that the symbol of Kaya Kingdom is two fishes kissing each other, which is similar to that of Mishra Royal family of Ayodhya.

eo and Suro had 12 children, the eldest son was Kŏdǔng. She requested Suro to let two of the children bear her maiden surname. Legendary genealogical records trace the origins of several Heo clans to these two children: Kimhae (or Gimhae), Hayang, Taein, Hansan and Yangcheon. The Gimhae Kims trace their origin to the other eight sons. Overall, more than six million Koreans trace their lineage to Queen Heo, however, in Indian history, no records are found of this legend. The other two were female and were married respectively to a son of Talhae and a noble of Silla.

The legend states that the queen died at the age of 157.

Now the entire Kara clan, which comprises over two-third of korean population are their descendants.

Korean government has declared Ayodhya as their sister-city and a monument in memory of princess Hoh was placed there.

The people in korea seem quite proud of their links with India, especially because Queen Suro gave rise to the Kim dynasty, a powerful family name in the country.