Sita라이브 바카라 Birthplace in Bihar In The Spotlight as Ramayan Tourism Grows

On a regular day at the bank of Ganga at Ramrekha Ghat in Buxar district of Bihar, a few pandits are performing havan. The sound of temple bells and chanting of mantras reverberate across the ghat. More than 20 boats are lined up and a few pilgrims are seen negotiating with the boatmen. The number of pilgrims visiting Ramrekha has increased in the past few years, informs Baban Choudhary, who has been working as a boatman for the past 40 years.

The inclusion of Buxar in the Ramayan Circuit has piqued the interest of pilgrims. A part of the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme of the Ministry of Tourism, the Ramayan Circuit is a tourism circuit that covers destinations associated with the life of Ram and Sita. The destinations are chosen according to the places where Ram is believed to have travelled across India. The ministry has identified 15 cities in nine states.

The initial plan to develop the Ramayan Circuit was floated in 2015—a year after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power. The circuit includes cities in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In Bihar, Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga have been chosen. From the mythological viewpoint, Bihar has always considered Ram to be its son-in-law. In Bihar라이브 바카라 folk songs and art forms, the stories of Sita, and of Ram as the son-in-law, are prevalent. Recently, an exhibition by the Bihar Museum was dedicated to Sita.

The Ramayan Circuit isn’t new in Bihar. Along with ideologically secular tourism called the Gandhi Circuit—which lists the places Mahatma Gandhi visited in Bihar, including Champaran where he launched and led the uprising of peasants between 1914 and 1916 against the imposed indigo cultivation by the British—and Sufi and Buddhist circuits, in 2005 there was a plan to highlight Sita who is said to be born in Sitamarhi.

In 2023, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched a Rs 72-crore development plan for Sita라이브 바카라 birthplace at Punaura Dham, also known as the Maa Janaki Janmabhoomi Temple, in Sitamarhi. The state government has decided to build a grand temple for Sita on the 50-acre land around an existing temple in Sitamarhi. The ruling Janata Dal (United) government has been slamming the Centre for doing little for Sita. “Why is the Modi government not showering similar blessings on Sitamarhi as it showers on Ayodhya,” asked JD(U) minister for planning and development, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, in November 2022, while demanding a Sita temple in Sitamarhi.

Anjani Singh, the former chief secretary of Bihar, who is presently the chief advisor to the chief minister as well as the director of Bihar Museum, says that they are not against the idea of Ram. “But how can Ram be without Sita? There is a lot of context of nature in Sita라이브 바카라 stories and her story is about women라이브 바카라 courage,” he says.

Singh said the ambition is to make a grand temple like the one built in Ayodhya after a long-drawn legal battle that also fortified and shaped the BJP라이브 바카라 ideological journey. Many feel that Sita wasn’t given her rightful place as Ram라이브 바카라 paramour in Ayodhya, which they also associate with a very masculine temple project.

Last year, at an election rally in May in Sitamarhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while addressing the public in support of JD(U) candidate and Bihar legislative council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur, said that the temple would be developed as an international pilgrimage site. He said that only Modi and the BJP can build the temple for Sita.

Redevelopment aside, Sitamarhi has long been a religious tourism site in Bihar where many feel that Sita is to Sitamarhi what Ram is to Ayodhya. This is also an alternative way of contesting the popular narrative of Ram and show that Ramayan is not just a story of a war over honour that patriarchy has always imposed on women but also a story of the independence of women and their resolve.

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Ram and Laxman are believed to have visited several sites in Bihar while travelling with Maharishi Vishwamitra. As per Valmiki라이브 바카라 account, after leaving Ayodhya, Chitrakoot was their first stop. Their second stop was near the confluence of Ganga and Saryu in the present-day Saran district. The third place they went to was Siddhashram near the Ganga in present-day Buxar. They later travelled to the confluence of Ganga and Sone near Patali (Patna). The three crossed the Ganga and were welcomed by Vaishali라이브 바카라 king, Sumati. They later walked down to Ahalya라이브 바카라 ashram, now known as Ahirouri in Mithilapuri (present Darbhanga).

At the Buxar railway station, paintings depicting Ram라이브 바카라 arrival at the Ramrekha Ghat adorn the walls. One of the paintings shows Tadka Vadh where Ram is seen attacking Tadka—a yakshi—with an arrow.

“Ramrekha Ghat is an important place in Ramayan. Vishwamitra imparted valuable lessons to Ram at the ghat,” informs a priest. “Vishwamitra had his ashram here. Tadka would harass and attack sages performing yagnas in the forest. A disappointed Valmiki told Ram and Laxman to kill Tadka and other demons,” says the priest.

Baban Choudhary, the boatman at the ghat, says in the past five-six years, their earnings have gone up. “It is the grace of Ganga maiya. Only eight-nine boats used to ply but now there are 50. Earlier, it was difficult to earn even Rs 200-250, but now, even after paying the boat rent to the owner, we earn an average of Rs 700-800 per day,” says Choudhary, who belongs to the mallah community, which is counted among the OBC (Other Backward Classes) in Bihar.

The increased tourism activities, however, have led to stiff competition. “Earlier, there were only a couple of prasad shops but now there are many. It has impacted our business,” says Kamleshwar Singh, in his sixties, who has been running a prasad shop at the ghat for three decades. He blames it on poverty and unemployment. “I often go to Mumbai for medical treatment. I meet others who have migrated from the state and are living away from their families. They say the government should create jobs in the state along with spending money on developing religious places,” he says.

However, despite being a part of the Ramayan Circuit, the ghat lacks basic infrastructure. “There are no changing rooms for women at the ghat. Also, the temples around the ghat need renovation,” informs Satyadev Prasad, the president of the Buxar Chamber of Commerce. He alleges that the government is focusing more on some spots while the others are being ignored.

“The historical battle of Buxar between the East India Company and Mir Qasim (Nawab of Bengal), Shuja-ud-Daulah (Nawab of Awadh) and Shah Alam II (Mughal emperor) took place in 1764 in Kathkauli in Buxar. A battle between Humayun and Sher Shah Suri took place in Buxar라이브 바카라 Chausa in 1539. These spots should also be developed,” he says.

The Ahilya Asthan, situated at Ahiyari Uttari village in Darbhanga district, is also allegedly being ignored. According to Hindu mythology, it was here that Ahilya turned into a stone after her husband, sage Gautam, cursed her. Ram, while on his way to Janakpur, reached this place, touched the stone and relieved Ahilya from the curse. “Very few tourists come here. The shopkeepers here barely earn anything,” says Neeraj Thakur, a local resident.

The state라이브 바카라 tourism website mentions many places in different districts of Bihar on the Ramayan Circuit that it plans to develop. Data shows that tourist footfall has increased in the state—in 2019, it received 350.8 lakh domestic and foreign tourists, which increased to 821.33 lakh in 2023. It may or may not have a direct connection to the Ramayan Circuit, but the chief minister라이브 바카라 push for a Vande Bharat train between Ayodhya and Sitamarhi is an indication that the state is keen to promote Sita라이브 바카라 birthplace just as Uttar Pradesh is promoting Ram라이브 바카라 birthplace.

(Views expressed are personal)

Umesh Kumar Ray is a Bihar-based independent journalist

This article is a part of 바카라's March 21, 2025 issue 'The Pilgrim's Progress', which explores the unprecedented upsurge in religious tourism in India. It appeared in print as 'Sitakund'.