Chitrakoot

Chitrakoot, “the hill of many wonders”, is a sacred region of forested hills on the Mandakini river, on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. According to the Ramayana, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana lived here for a large part of their fourteen years of exile, traditionally about eleven and a half years, before moving south to the Dandaka forest.

Chitrakoot in the Ramayana

After crossing the Ganga at Shringaverapura with the help of the boatman-king Guha and visiting the sage Bharadvaja at Prayag, the three exiles were advised to settle at Chitrakoot. Valmiki describes it lovingly: hills full of flowering trees, peacocks and elephants, waterfalls and the clear Mandakini. Lakshmana built them a hut there. It is at Chitrakoot that the most moving scene of the Ayodhya Kanda takes place, the Bharat Milap. Bharata, refusing the throne his mother had won for him, came with the whole court and the queens to beg Rama to return. Rama would not break his father’s word, and Bharata at last went back carrying Rama’s sandals, which he placed on the throne of Ayodhya.

Places of pilgrimage

• Kamadgiri – the holy hill at the heart of Chitrakoot, identified with the original Chitrakuta. Pilgrims walk the 5 km parikrama around it, often barefoot, and it is said to fulfil all wishes (kama).
• Ramghat – the main ghat on the Mandakini, where the evening aarti is held; tradition says Tulsidas met Rama here.
• Bharat Milap Temple – marks the place where the brothers met.
• Janaki Kund and Sphatik Shila – the pool where Sita bathed, and the rock where Rama and Sita are said to have sat; the story tells that Indra’s son Jayanta, as a crow, pecked Sita there.
• Sati Anusuya Ashram – the hermitage of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, who taught Sita the duties of a wife and gave her unfading garments.
• Gupt Godavari – a pair of caves with streams flowing through them.
• Hanuman Dhara – a hilltop shrine where a spring falls on an image of Hanuman; tradition says Rama made it to cool Hanuman after the burning of Lanka.

Festivals

Huge crowds gather at Kamadgiri on every Amavasya (new moon), and especially at Diwali, Somvati Amavasya, Rama Navami and Makar Sankranti.

How to reach Chitrakoot

Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) railway station is about 10 km from Ramghat. The nearest airports are Prayagraj (about 125 km) and Khajuraho (about 185 km).

Chitrakoot is loved as the home of Rama's exile, where the family lived simply in the forest, and as the scene of Bharat Milap, the great example of brotherly love and renunciation. Tulsidas is said to have had the vision of Rama here, and devotees believe that Rama is still present in the hills.