One of the principal towns of Oude, of like name, is noted on account of a temple erected there in honor of Hanumat, the fabled monkey-ally of Rama, an incar- nation of the god Vishnu. The ancient city of that name was situated opposite the modern Oude, where its ruins may still be seen. Ayodhya was one of the oldest seats of civilization in India; it was the residence of the solar dynasty, or one of the two oldest dynasties of In- dia, deriving its descent from the sun ; but it obtained special renown through Kama, the son of Dasaratha, a
king of that dynasty. Its great beauty and immense size are dwelt upon in several of the Puranas and mod- ern poems, but more especially in the Ramaydna, the first and last books of which contain a description of it. According to some Puranas, Ayodhya was one of the seven sacred cities, the living at which was supposed to free a man from all sin, and the dying at which to secure eternal bliss. It was also called Saketa, Kosala, and Uttara- kosala. See Goldstucker's Sanscrit Dic- tionarij, s. v. Ayodhya ; Chambers, Cyclop, s. v. ; The American Cyclop, s. v.; Bishop Thomson, Our Oriental Missions, i, 104 sq. ; Bohn's India, p. 236 sq., 360 sq.; Butler, Lund of the Veda, s. v.
Oudin, Casimir, a distinguished French writer, was born at Mezieres-sur-Meuse, Feb. 14, 1038. He was the son of a weaver. After studying at Charle- ville, he joined the Premonstrants in 1055, chiefly with a view to devoting himself entirely to study. The history of ecclesiastical writers first attracted his atten- tion. In 1669 he was appointed professor of theology in the abbey of Moreau, and the next year grand-prior. Finallj'^, after taking charge for a while of the Church of Epinay-sous-Gamaches, in the diocese of Rouen, he retired into a convent in 1677 to resume his former scientific labors. After visiting the divers establish- ments of the order in Lorraine, Burgundy, and the Netherlands, he obtained permission to settle at Paris in 1683, and soon became intimate with the learned Benedictines of St. IMaur, who placed their rich his- torical materials at his disposal, in order that he might write for them a history of their order — a task which, however, he never attempted. He enjoyed great repu- tation for learning, and was even considered a model of piety and regularity. But his superiors, frightened at an intimacy which sprung up between him and the renowned Jurieu, confined him to the abbey of Ressons, near Beauvais, m 1692. The severe penances to which he was subjected contributed also to disgust him Mith monastic life ; and having finally succeeded in escaping to Holland in 1692, he made an open profession of Prot- estantism at Leyden. He was subsequently appointed under-librarian of the university of that place, and died there in Sept., 1717. Abbe Boulliot, in his Biogr. A rden- naise (vol. ii), saj's of Oudin : " Contrary to what usual- ly happens to such deserters, he always preserved the general esteem of his co-religionists. This was owing mainlj^ to the purity of his life. To those who advised him to marry, he answered that he had become a Cal- vinist for the sake of truth, and not to free himself from celibacy." Oudin's principal works are, Sujjplementum de sci'iptoribus vel de scriptis ecclesiasticis a Bellarmino omissis ad ann. 1460 (Paris, 1686, 8vo). This work, which is far from supplying all the authors omitted by Bellarmine, contains, according to Cave, a large num- ber of errors : — Le Premontre defroque (Lej'den, 1692, 12mo) : — Veierum aliquot Gallice et Belgii scriptorum opuscula sacra nunquam edita (ibid. 1692, 8vo) : — His- toria abbatis Calvi- Montis, in Acta Sanctorum, vol. iii (1701): — De Collectanea, in Jlason, Hist, de la repub- lique des Lettres, vol. vii, viii : — Trias dissert, critica- rum (Lej'den, 1717, 8vo). In this work he claims that the Codex Alexandrinus dates only from the 10th cen- tury, and that the questions Ad Aniiochum principem were attributed by mistake to St. Athanasius: — De scriptoribus Ecclesice antiquis (Leips. 1722, 3 vols. fob). See Niceron, Memoires, vol. i, x; Moreri, Diet, hist.; Paquot, Memoires; Hugo, Annales ord. Pi-cem. i, 55; Haag, La France Protestante. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxviii, 966. (J. N. P.)
Ouen, St. (Lat. Audanus), a French prelate, noted for his civil ministrations to king Dagobert, and highly esteemed by that monarch, was born at Sancy, near Soissons, in 609. He was brought up at Ussy-sur- Marne, of which his parents were lords. After study- ing in the monastery of St. Medard, he received an office at the court of king Clothaire II. Under Dag-
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