Sita Temple or Janaki Mandir / Mahal – This is a rare example of in Nepal of Moghul architecture, built in 1911 over the place where Sita’s deity was found. The deities in temple are of Sita, Rama and Rama’s brothers Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. This palace is the ancient site where King Janaka raised Sitadevi as his child. Within the temple premises is also a small temple of Sita devi’s parents :Janakamaharaj and queen Sunayana.

 

 

 

 

Vivaha Mandap ( Madba) –

North west to Janak Mahal is the beautiful courtyard , wherein stands Vivaha Mandap. The place where Sita and Rama’s wedding took place.

 

In the temple you will find the scene depicting the actual marraiage. Both the family members from each side are present . Demigods are also seen on the pillars, who came to witness this great event.

Laxman Mandir – Right in the front of the Janakmahal, but on the corner is this small temple dedicated to Lord Laxman. Here deities are of Sita Ram and Laxman.

Sri Ram Mandir – Situated close to Janakmahal is the small and beautiful temple of Lord Rama. This temple stands right in front of Dhanushsagar lake.

 

 

 

 

 

Gangasagar Lake – Close to janakmahal is a huge famous lake Gangasagar. Here all the holy  rivers including Ganga-Yamuna and all holy tirthas were invoked at a time when great sages churned the body .of king Nimi . The son born due to this churning was King Mithi, from whom this land became known as Mithila.

Srimad Bhagavatam explains in detail about this incident – Glories of King Nimi, son of Ikshvaku.
When Maharaja Nimi began performing great sacrifices, he appointed Vasinoha to be chief priest, but Vasinoha refused, for he had already agreed to be priest in performing a yajna for lord Indra. Vasinoha therefore requested Maharaja Nimi to wait until Lord Indra’s sacrifice was finished, but Maharaja Nimi did not wait. He thought, “Life is very short, so there is no need to wait”. He therefore appointed another priest to perform the yajna. Vasinoha was very angry at King Nimi and cursed him, saying, “May your body fall down.” Cursed in that way, Maharaja Nimi also became very angry, and he retaliated by saying, “May your body also fall down.” As a result of this cursing and countercursing, both of them died. After this incident, Vasinoha took birth again, begotten by Mitra and Varuna, who were agitated by Urvasi.
The priests who were engaged in the sacrifice for King Nimi preserved Nimi’s body in fragrant chemicals. When the sacrifice was over, the priests prayed for Nimi’s life to all the demigods who had come to the arena of yajna, but Maharaja Nimi refused to take birth again in a material body because he considered the material body obnoxious. The great sages then churned Nimi’s body, and as a result of this churning, Janaka (Mithi) was born.

Dhanusa Sagar – In front of Sri Ram Mandir is this huge famous Dhanushsagar lake. As mentioned earlier this lake was created when one of the pieces of Shiva’s bow entered from here into nether regions after being broken by Lord Rama to marry Sita.

 

Dugdhmati River – This River as the name suggests, was created from milk. When Mother Sita was beneath earth before manifesting herself to King Janak, she was being fed  milk from above the ground by Mother Earth as kamadhenu cow. In her ecstacy of feeding Sitadevi, Milk flowed all the udders and this overflowed as a small river. Thus, the river Dughdmati was created because of this milk.  This has been a very sacred place of bhajan for many saints in this region. The colour of the water is ever since whitish hue.

Appearance place of Goddess of Fortune Sitadevi –
Lord Rama appeared in Ayodhya in dynasty of Raghu as son to King Dasharath and Queen Kaushalya, His consort appeared through the medium of earth as the daughter of King Janak. For this task, the sacred place of Mithiladesh well known for divinity was chosen by her. This land of Mithila of which Janakpur is the capital is exactly situated between the banks of Ganga and the Himlayan mountain ranges. Mithila is nondifferent from Ayodhya, wherein Ayodhya is compared to the beautiful face of body made of all holy places combined, then Mithila Janakpuri is the beautiful tilak decorating this forehead.

Brahmana Devdatt achieves liberation in Janakpur –
Long ago lived a Brahmana Devdatta who was a great devotee of lord Shiva. He resided in Kashi. Once when he was meditating and offering puja to his lord, an old bull wandered near him and ate his flowers and fruits meant for his puja. Suddenly taken aback, Devdatta angrily slapped the bull. The bull, being old, suddenly collapsed on the ground and within no time died. Lord Shiva , the lord of kashi became upset on Devdatta and cursed him that for killing a male cow he will become poor and become afflicted by leprosy.
Soon Devdatta lost all his fortune and became a leper. As he was not able to stay in regular society because of his disease, he kept on wandering from one holy place to another hoping for atonement. Crying desperately for help, he intensified his spiritual practices. Narada muni seeing his plight advised him to visit Mithilapuri. He told him that just by hearing the name of Mithila, one gets purified of all sins. Indeed just by uttering the name of Mithila again and again, Devdatta’s leprosy immediately got cured. As he proceeded in the direction of Mithila, he experienced a great deal of happiness. After reaching Mithila, Devdatta felt fully purified in this holy land of Mother Sita. He remained here for rest of his life. At the end, when he left his body, he achieved the Lord’s transcendental abode.

Impious brahmana of Mahismati –

Once in the city of Mahismati resided a brahmana by name Kukarma. True to his name he was very sinful and performed many irreligious acts. However by fortune, as he was visting many places on his enjoyment pursuit, he also visited the holy city of Mithila. As he stayed there for few days, he gained unknown devotional credits. While staying there, a venomous serpent bit him to death. At once Yamadutas came to fetch him for punishment in hell. Yamaraj ordered him to be thrown in a hell known as Khadiraghar. However when he was taken there, Yamadutas were surprised to see that the heat of the hell had cooled down and a pleasant cooling wind was blowing there. The already suffering people of that hell felt a soothing relief. At this point, Vishnudutas from Vaikuntha came to fetch the brahmana. When questioned by Yamadutas about his misdeeds, Vishnudutas explained that by residing in Mithila and leaving his body, Kukarma was fully purified. Hence whichever hell you may take him, he will purify others with his association. At this point, Vishnudutas took Kukarma back to Vaikuntha.

 

Janakpur is located in the Terai, alluvial, forested and marshy terrain at the base of the Himalaya mountain range. The major rivers surrounding Janakpur are Dudhmati, Jalad, Rato, Balan and Kamala. Janakpur is famous for its temples and the numerous ponds which carry significant religious importance. One can see all the six seasons in Janakpur. Basantritu (Spring-February/March), Grismaritu (Summer- April/May/June), Barsharitu (Rainy – July/August), Sharadritu (Autumn- September/October), Hemantaritu (Autumn-winter: November/December), Shishirritu (Winter: December/January). The best time to visit Janakpur is from September to March as the weather is pleasant and several festivals fall during this period.