JANAKPUR

  Janakpur has been a centre for hindu pilgrimages since at least the fourth century BC.When the story of Sita, the wife of lord Rama and daughter of king Janak of Mithiila, was written down in the Ramayana. Even today the town feels closer to the Hindu town of India than the tribal townships of Nepal. One one level Janakpur is a tourist town. Many pligrims of india come Nepal visit to Janakpur. The huge Janaki temple attracts pligrims from across the subcontinent. The best time is to visit is during the Hindu festival of Sita Bibaha Panchami.

                Not only the temple but the another most attracting thing in Janakpur is the Mithila culture. Janakpur was once the capital of the ancient kingdom Mithila. More than two million people still speak Maithili as their mothers tongue. The people of Mithila are widely known for their wildly colorful paintings. Mithila art is primitive in the  fine art sense and it offers fascinating window onto rural life in the Terai. The city mythologised in the Ramayana esisted around 700BC, but it was abandoned later and sank back into the forest. Janakpur's most important temple is dedicated to Sita. According to Ramayana Sita was kidnapped by a demon king called Ravan. And Ram sped south to save her, sided by the loyal monkey god, Hanuman. Ram is regarded as incarnation of lord Vishnu and Sita is regarded as  an incarnation of Laxmi. Built in extravagent baroque Mughal style, the janaki mandir is  believed to stand on the exact spot where King Janak found the infant sita lying in the furrow of a ploughed field. The temple seems to be very old by its arches, domes, turrets and screens though it is dated 1912 . The steady stream of pilgrims files in through the gatehouse. The important temples around the Janaki Mandir are Ram Sita Bibaha Mandir, Ram mandir and dhanush sagar. Mithila art is very important aspect of Janakpur. Traditionally Mithila paintings were used for decoration. We can still see houses in Terai with abstract patterns or complex senses of village life painted in white and ochre on the mud walls.

                In this manner Janakpur is the fusion of religious belief and the awesome Mithila art. It is obvious that visiting these kind of places is the way of gaining knowledge toward history and art.