Sitamarhi Temple Tour, India

It is the place where Lord Shiva is shown meditating. According to Indian Traditions River Ganges emerged from his locks. The place is beautifully represented with statue of Lord Shiva and water symbolic of River Ganges is falling from the lock of Lord Shiva.

Sitamarhi Main Temple :
One has to enter the main temple via bridge that is over pond which surrounds Sitamarhi Temple. Temple is beautiful piece of architecture built in white marble. It offers you a world of serenity, pristine beauty and mind capturing calmness that can make your temple visit worth memorable.

Main temple constructed at the actual place where Goddess Sita was taken by Mother Earth.

Here we enter the main temple from first floor crossing the bridge.

Inside the Garbagriha :
Photography is allowed inside the temple. No one asks for any donation inside the temple, nor any priests come and follow for poojaabhishekh. Devotees are free to have Darshana as long as they want. Where there is negligible loot in terms of getting money from devotees the place flourishes more, serenity, divinity and bliss can be felt at each and every corner of this spiritual place. The place is clean, calm, well maintained and beautiful.

Inside in the first floor there is a marble statue of SitaMaa below the dome. The walls and dome are decorated with small pieces of colorful glass. Behind the statue of Sita Maa the whole scene when SitaMaa goes underground is made with pieces of colorful glasses like pictures of Lord Ram, Luv Kush, Hanuman , Lakshmana , Bharat , Shatrughana, three mothers , King Janaka and people of Ayodhya. This art with broken pieces of glasses is worth watching.

The central Dome at first floor :
The view while coming out of the Garbhagrihais stupendous. The beautiful pond filled with clear green water also offers boating. One should definitely boat to have full view of the surrounding. There are a lot of animals roaming freely in the woods nearby. One can see ducks, peacocks, deers and monkeys while boating. Different species of birds are worth watching.

Scene at the where Sitawas assimilated by Mother Earth :
After that we went to ground floor where there is another statue of SitaMaa. This is the exact place below which SitaMaa goes underground. Here, there is another idol of white statue ofSitaMaa .This statue is what one could term to be Ultimate Beauty. When one has a look at this one he gets mesmerized and allured. It is so statuesque, sublime and radiant that one cannot just take away his or her eyes from it. Behind the main statue on the walls , there are figures of Lord Ram, Hanuman , Three Mothers (Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi), Luv Kush , Valmiki , four brothers and subjects of Ayodhya , all trying to stop Goddess Sita from submerging in the Earth. For the sheer beauty of the statue one would like to kiss the hands of sculptor.

Even if you visit here to see the art of the Idol of Goddess Sita it will be worth visit. The depictions are reality of not only Sita and Rama but also of human life. It is said that whenever human culture comes to stagnancy or loses its value Lords appear to show a way. Sita and Rama were also one such incarnations. Their life teaches values that one should cherish in life, victory of virtue over vice, imperturbability over perturb ability. The whole Valmiki Ramayana is the legend of hardships that a common human being suffers to save human values, to keep away from evils and the ultimate attainment of salvation through virtues, good conduct and perseverance.

Just look at the expressions at the face which clearly tells the humiliation faced by Goddess Sita at the time.

Temple Name	Location	Significance	Opening Time	Closing Time
Janaki Temple	Sitamarhi, Bihar	Believed to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita	5:00 AM	9:00 PM
Haleshwar Sthan	Near Sitamarhi	Ancient Shiva temple with mythological significance	4:30 AM	8:30 PM
Panth Pakar	Sitamarhi	Historic site with an ancient Banyan tree linked to Sita’s journey	6:00 AM	7:00 PM
Pupri Temple	Pupri, Bihar	Famous for Lord Shiva’s presence and religious importance	5:30 AM	8:00 PM
Baba Nageshwar Nath Temple	Sitamarhi	Dedicated to Lord Shiva, an important pilgrimage spot	4:00 AM	9:00 PM

Being Feminine in Indian Tradition :
The legend of Sita or Ramayana is of Epic Period that means age after Later Vedic Period. In Epic age status of female deteriorated as masculinity dominated. Domination is a psyche of male to establish themselves. As human society develops there comes a rivalry among various groups to dominate in order to maintain their position or to survive. Indian culture dates back to Early Vedic Age that is the root to Indian culture when a male could not perform sacrifices without her female counterpart. Female was as free as male to be educated and to learn other fields of use. With development of societies relations between male and female become complex. In every Age of Indian Culture there has been a female protagonist shown in scriptures fighting to establish herself in male dominated world. With time female was confined to lust and need of male. She was objectified, pitied, humiliated and cursed by male power and being depicted as benevolent, soft spoken and obedient in order to represent male counterparts right. But the tradition that we are seeing today is a deterioration of Indian Culture. People shouldn’t be mistaken of real essence of Great Indian Values with later versions of Sita and Savitri neither they should be inspired to. If you really revere Indian Values you have to get to the mind that there is equal status of both male and female. Also, they are complementary to each other. There should not be more humiliation of Sita at all.

Historical Evidences :
There are three factors which prove that this was indeed the place where Goddess Sitahad descended to the earth.

Sita was abandoned near Valmiki Ashram during her exile, and the Ashram stands in Sitamarhi.
It was situated on the banks of the holy Ganga as described in the epic Ramayana and could be reached on a chariot from Ayodhya in a day. Valmiki has explained the geographical position of his ashram near the confluence of River Tamasa and Ganga.
The author of Ram Charit Manas ,Goswami Tulsidas had visited this place while travelling from Varanasi (Kashi ) to Allahabad (Prayag) and stayed for three days. He described the location of Sitamarhi between Baripur and Digpur. The two villages still exist and testify the location. He explained the location in his Kavitawali Uttarkand couplet 138.

Later, don’t forget to visit Lord Hanuman Temple which stands near SitaSamahitSthal. It has a huge statue of Lord Hanuman standing at 108 feet height.

Valmiki Asharam :
There is also the Ashrama of Sage Valmiki who has written Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit, source of later versions of several stories related to Sita and Rama. There stand statues which depict Luv and Kush standing with bow and arrow. Brothers of Lord Rama, Lord Hanuman all defeated by brothers Luv and Kush.