Janakpur

Introducing Janakpur

Janakpur has been a centre for Hindu pilgrimages since at least the 4th century BC, when the story of Sita, wife of Rama and daughter of King Janak of Mithila, was written down in the Ramayana. Even today, the town feels closer to the Hindu towns of India than the tribal townships of Nepal - there's nowhere better to get a real feel for life in the plains.

On one level, Janakpur is a tourist town, but almost all the tourists are pilgrims from India. The streets are dotted with pilgrims' hostels and the huge Janaki temple attracts pilgrims from across the subcontinent. The best time to visit is during the Hindu festival of Sita Bibaha Panchami (see p000, when vignettes from the Ramayana are acted out in the streets, bringing the ancient myth vividly to life.

The other lure in Janakpur is Mithila culture. Janakpur was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mithila, a territory now divided between Nepal and India, and more than two million people in the area still speak Maithili as their native tongue. The people of Mithila are famous for their wildly colourful paintings. Mithila art is primitive, in the Fine Art sense, and it offers a fascinating window onto rural life in the Terai - see the boxed text p000.

Janakpur is actually the third city on this site. The city mythologised in the Ramayana existed around 700 BC, but it was later abandoned and sank back into the forest. Simaraungarh grew up in its place, but this city was also destroyed, this time by Muslim invaders in the 14th century. Modern Janakpur is a busy, bustling bazaar town, with winding narrow streets, more rickshaws and bicycles than cars and a real sense of energy and purpose. Many people visit on the way to/from Kakarbhitta and you can make a fascinating detour south to the Indian border (though not across it) on the old metre-gauge train to Jaynagar.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009