Updated 22 September 2026
Start with the sentence the trust puts on its own homepage: it does not charge any fee for aarti and darshan passes. Everything else on this page follows from that.
You do not need a pass for ordinary darshan
Walk-in darshan during the published hours needs no booking at all. A pass matters for one thing: attending an aarti, where the number of people admitted is limited.
The three aartis that issue passes
| Aarti | Time |
|---|---|
| Mangal Aarti | 04:00 |
| Shringar Aarti | 06:00 |
| Shayan Aarti | 22:00 |
These three are the ones the trust publishes. Travel sites also list a Bhog Aarti around midday and a Sandhya Aarti in the evening; no pass is offered for either and the trust does not print their times, so we do not either.
The one official portal
Booking runs at online.srjbtkshetra.org, which is the only booking channel linked from the trust's own website. You log in with a mobile number or email and an OTP. Alongside the advance quota there is a Tatkal quota for same or next day, and there is a separate aarti for the Ram Darbar on the first floor, consecrated in June 2025.
Every darshan and aarti type in the portal's own catalogue is marked Nishulk — free of charge. There is no paid tier, no VIP queue and no priority pass, whatever a third-party site tells you.
ID documents
The portal accepts Aadhaar for Indian nationals, a passport for non-Indians, and also a voter ID, driving licence, ration card or a school or college ID. Guides that tell you only Aadhaar and passport are accepted are quoting a narrower list than the official one. Bring the same document you booked with; it is checked at entry.
The scams, plainly
Ayodhya attracts more of these than any temple we cover, and the trust has had to say so publicly more than once.
- Anyone charging for a pass is not acting for the trust. Passes are free.
- Online prasad delivery. The trust has appointed no vendor or agency to sell or courier prasad. Sites offering it before the 2024 consecration collected personal and bank details. Prasad is given free inside the temple.
- The "VIP pass app". A WhatsApp forward asking people to install an app for a free VIP pass circulated widely. There is no such app.
- Lookalike domains. The information site is srjbtkshetra.org and booking is at online.srjbtkshetra.org. Addresses that merely resemble these are not linked from the trust's own site.
We are an independent guide: we take no bookings, sell nothing and collect no donations. If you want to donate, the official portal has a donation section with its own categories.
Accessibility
The booking portal has its own fields for a wheelchair and for an accompanying assistant, so request them at the time of booking rather than on arrival.
What you can carry
Phones, cameras, bags and leather goods are all widely reported to be barred, and lockers before the entry are the norm. We flag this as reported rather than official: neither the trust nor the district administration publishes a visitor list of prohibited items that we could find. Travel light and expect to leave your phone behind.