Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Janakpur's focal point is the magnificent Janaki Mandir, a temple devoted to Sita, the divine heroine of the Hindu epic Ramayana. The Indian sage Valmiki supposedly wrote the Ramayana – The Story of Rama – sometime between 500 and 100 BC. This major epic, some 48,000 lines long, is also well known in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.<br/><br/> The temple was built in 1911 by the Rani of Tikamagarh (Central India), at a cost of 900,000 Rupees – in those days a dizzying amount of money. In local parlance, the temple is also called Nau Lakh Mandir or 'Temple of 900,000 Rupees'. In 1657, a golden statue of the Goddess Sita was found at the very spot, and Sita is also said to have lived there – indeed, another name for Sita is Janaki.
Janakpur, historically called Mithilanchal, is the centre of the ancient Maithil culture, which has its own language and script.<br/><br/> The most important historical reference to Mithila/Janakpur is in the Hindu epic Ramayana, where Lord Rama's wife Sita Devi (also called Janaki) is said to have been the princess of Videha. Her father, King Janak, found baby Sita in a furrow of a field and raised her as his daughter. When she grew up, the king announced that she should be wed by whoever was able to string the divine bow of Shiva. Though many royal suitors tried, Lord Rama, prince of Ayodhya, alone could even lift the bow. As Rama and Sita are major figures in Hinduism, Janakpur is an important pilgrimage site for Hindus.