ALSphere Foundation
History
Sri Rama left Ayodhya for fourteen-year exile in the forest. His wife Sita and brother Laxman accompanied him. They entered the forest, crossed ‘Ganga’ and settled in Chitrakoot. A few days later, brother Bharat, the caretaker king, came to persuade Sri Rama to come back and take over throne. Rama denied. Bharat requested to take his pair of sandals to install on the throne as a token of Sri Rama’s authority during absence. Sri Rama, Sita and Laxman stayed there for eleven years.
Goswami Tulsidas composed a part of “Sri Ram Charit Manas” here. Legend goes that here Tulsidas had ‘Darshan’ of Sri Rama and Laxman as two young boys.
Where is it?
Chitrakoot is a small town divided between the states UP (Chitrakoot district) and MP (Satna district). Located in the North Vindhya mountain range, it is a beautiful place for weekend holidays for 2-3 days. Best time to travel here is from in October to March. Summer is hot here (40 degree Celsius), but it can be a good ‘Monsoon Destination’ (July-September) for nature and monsoon lovers. Nearest railway station is Karvi (8 km). Other stations are Manikpur Jn. (30 km) and Prayagraj (124 km) Nearest airport is Prayagraj. Road distance from Prayagraj is 116 km. Shops, restaurants, premium and budget hotels, good transportation facilities are its advantages.
Our Journey
We gathered information on Chitrakoot from blogs and YouTube before planning our journey. We, a family of four, started our air journey in the evening from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi (direct flight) in April 2022. From Varanasi, we boarded a night train (that got delayed for eight hours, came next morning only) to Manikpur Jn., which was suitable for us. From Manikpur Jn., we took a Jeep-taxi to Chitrakoot and reached at about 1:00 PM.
The Stay
We checked in to ‘Kamadgiri Bhavan’- a budget hotel, finished our lunch and took rest for about three hours. It was a clean hotel at Ramghat Road. Since it was hotter in April, we took AC room. Per day charge was approx. Rs.1500/- (incl. GST) for three adults and a child.
Where Did We Visit?
After rest, we visited ‘Ramghat’ on ‘Mandakini’ river, which is at a walking distance of 200 meter through hill. Late afternoon and evening are much beautiful here. About 50-60 (even more) ‘light and flower decorated’ boats with rabbits are there for the tourists at Ramghat. The boatman takes about Rs.200/- for a family trip of 30-45 minutes.
‘Mandakani Arati’ is conducted on the ghat at 6:30 PM and then laser-show on ‘Ramayana’ is displayed. A number of temples are on both sides of ghat. We enjoyed all these, tea and snacks, took a nice stroll on both sides of the ghat, came back to hotel at 9:00 PM. After dinner, we went to bed.
Next morning, we started at 5:30 AM for ‘Darshan’ of Lord Kamtanath, seating deity of Chitrakoot and a ‘Kamadgiri Parikrama’ (Walking round Kamadgiri hill [5 km], that gives religious benefit of visiting all holy places ‘Teerthas’ of Hindu), which took 2.5 – 3 hours. We visited ‘Ram Janaki Mahal Mandir’, ‘Ram Bharat Milap Mandir’. Time constraint didn’t allow us to visit ‘Laxman Pahari’.
After breakfast nearby, we proceeded to ‘Hanuman Dhara’ waterfall in an auto-rickshaw and went up the hill in ropeway. Return ropeway charges was Rs.130/- per adult and Rs.83/- per child. We had ‘Darshan’ at Hanuman temple and ‘Dhara’ (stream), and returned back.
We visited ‘Gupt Godavari’, ‘Sati Anasuya Ashram’ ‘Sphatik Shila’ and ‘Janaki Kund’ also, but couldn’t cover ‘Bharat Kund’. In the evening, we again enjoyed boating, ‘Arati’ and laser-show, took snacks during stroll. At 9:00 PM, we finished dinner, left hotel for our night train journey to Varanasi.
Conclusion
Chitrakoot is a holy place for Hindus, the history of which dates back to ‘Treta Yug’. It is also a place of natural beauty with rivers, hills and streams. I recommend a visit to this place at least once in the life time.
Kishor Kumar Mishra
