Sitamarhi temple located in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh, situated on the banks of the Ganges between Allahabad and Varanasi stands witness to the happenings of Tretayug where Mother Sita absorbed herself in the womb of mother earth!
Sita means furrow in Sanskrit, is regarded as Bhoomija, daughter of goddess earth Bhoomi Devi.
Discovered in a furrow by King Janak of Mithila in present-day Bihar while ploughing his field. It is likely that ploughing was part of a royal ritual to ensure fertility of the land.
Adopted and brought up by King Janak and his wife Sunaina. Sita is a personification of Earth's fertility, abundance, and well-being.
Sita is known by many epithets. She is called Janaki as the daughter of Janak and Maithili as the princess of Mithila.
As the wife of Ram, she is called Rama.
Her father Janak had earned the sobriquet Videha due to his ability to transcend body consciousness; Sita is therefore also known as Vaidehi.
Sita is known for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity.
Hindu tradition reveres Sita, She has been portrayed as an ideal daughter, an ideal wife and an ideal mother! The values that she enshrined and adhered to at every point in the course of a demanding life are the values of womanly virtue held sacred by countless generations of Indians.
Sita, in her youth, chooses Ram the prince of Ayodhya as her husband. Rama won her as his bride by bending Lord Shiva's bow!
After the swayamvara, she accompanies her husband to his kingdom, but later chooses to accompany him along with her brother-in-law Lakshman, in his exile.
While in exile, they stay in the Dandaka and Panchvati forests from where she is abducted by Ravan, the demon king of Lanka. She is imprisoned in Ashok Vatika in Lanka until she is rescued by Ram, who slays her captor.
After the couple come back to Ayodhya, Ram is crowned king with Sita by his side. On her return she asserted her purity and also proved it by voluntarily undergoing an ordeal by fire.
While Ram's trust and affection for Sita never wavered, it soon became evident that some people in Ayodhya could not accept Sita's long captivity under Ravan.
During Ram's period of rule, an intemperate washerman, while berating his wayward wife, declared that he was "no pusillanimous Ram who would take his wife back after she had lived in the house of another man".
The common folk started gossiping about Sita and questioned Ram's decision to make her queen. Ram was extremely distraught on hearing the news, but finally told Lakshman that as king, he had to maintain public sentiment and the purity of the queen of Ayodhya had to be above any gossip and rumour!
With a heavy heart, he instructed him to take Sita to a forest outside Ayodhya and leave her there.
Thus Sita was forced into exile a second time. Sita, who was pregnant, was given refuge in the hermitage of Sage Valmiki, where she delivered twin boys, named Luv and Kush.
Valmiki was very affectionate to the sons and gave them lessons of martial arts, warfare and shastras. Luv and Kush had a sound knowledge of weapons and warfare.
In the hermitage, Sita raised her sons alone, as a single mother. The twins grew up to be valiant and intelligent and were eventually united with their father.
Once she had witnessed the acceptance of her children by Ram, Sita sought final refuge in the arms of her mother Bhoomi.
Hearing her plea for release from an unjust world and from a life that had rarely been happy, the humiliation she suffered, Earth dramatically split open; Bhoomi appeared and took Sita away.
The Temple has a tradition of Deep Daan :
The local inhabitants believe that if deeps (earthen lamps) of ghee or mustard oil are lit in the temple for fifteen or thirty days, their wishes are fulfilled, so hundreds of deeps are lit every day, adding to the beauty and religious significance of this place. This place is adjacent to Lord Shiva temple.
Sitamarhi thus carries deep religious values and significance, is considered a holy pilgrimage centre like Prayagraj (Allahabad ) and Kashi ( Varanasi/ Benaras).
Today, a beautiful Shree Sita Samahit Temple stands at the very place Sita was contained by Mother Earth.
Visited by thousands of pilgrim everyday with deep faith and reverence.
The place is serene and soothing to the visitor which also gives you some spiritual inspiration.
A garden near the temple has a 110 ft high statue of Hanumanji, has the distinction of being the world’s greatest statue of Hanuman ji.
Sitamarhi can be reached by
Air
The nearest Airport is Allahabad airport ( 75 kms ) and Varanasi airport ( 86 kms)
By Train
The nearest railway stations are Bhadohi ( 40 Kms ) and Mirzapur ( 44 Kms )
By Road
This place lies approx 12 kms away from Grand Trunk road towards Ganga river side in between Allahabad and Varanasi . From Allahabad , after Handia one has to take right and from Varanasi after Gopiganj one has to take left to reach Sitamarhi.
