Janakpurdham

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Janakpur, more commonly Janakpurdham, is a city in Nepal. Janakpurdham is the administrative headquarters of the Dhanusa District of the Janakpur Zone. Janakpurdham has a population of approximately 80,000. [1] The city is located approximately 400 km south-east of Kathmandu, 20 km from the Indian border[1] at 26° 42' 44" N, 085° 55' 18" E[2] The city has a substantial tourist industry due to its significance in the Hindu religion[3] and is home to the only operational railway in Nepal, the Janakpur Railway.

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[edit] Brief Introduction

The city is centre of the ancient Maithili culture with its own language and script. Janakpurdham also is the birthplace of Sita Devi, a Hindu goddess (also called Janaki), the heroine of the Ramayana epic and it is the site of her wedding with Rama, a Hindu god. King Janak is supposed to have found baby Sita in a furrow of a field; he took the child home and raised it. When she was a young lady the king announced that she should be wed by whoever is able to string the divine bow of Shiva. That was no other than Rama, a prince from Ayodhya. Thus, Janakpurdham is an important pilgrimage site for Hindus. The centre of Janakpurdham is dominated by the impressive Janaki Mandir to the north and west of the bazaar. This temple was built in 1911 by [Queen Brisabhanu Kunwar] of Tikamgarh (India). It is also called "Nau Lakha Mandir" as it is said that the cost of construction was 9 lakh at that time, it is one of the biggest temple in Nepal. Another landmark of Janakpurdham are the numerous sacred ponds for ritual baths (sagar) all over the city. The 2 most important ones are close to the centre: Dhanush Sagar and Ganga Sagar. The oldest temple of the city is Ram Mandir, which was built by Amar Singh, a brave & mighty Gorkhali Soldier. The Vivah Mandap is too famous here with well maintained garden surround the main temple (mandap).

The Maithili language is still widely spoken in the area. Maithili women are renowned for their traditional art, most of all their paintings on pottery, walls and court yards. These arts are collectively called Mithila Arts & Mithila Paintings which are quite famous internationally. Typically, Maithili dwellings are made of clay and straw with an inner court yard. There are more than 200 ponds. The Bibhaha (Vivah) Panchami festival re-enacts the wedding of Rama and Sita in the famous Vivah Mandap. Over 100,000 pilgrims come for this festival. There is a procession with elephants, horses, and decorated chariots with beating drums. It is on the fifth day of the waxing moon in November or early December. Rama Navami, the birthday of Lord Rama, in March-April, is an important festival that draws over 100,000 people. Dipawali in Oct/Nov is a festive time to visit. Holi and other Hindu festivals too are celebrated in great zeal.

There is an annual one-day Parikrama (circumambulation) of the city on the full moon day of February/March (before Holi festival). Many people offer prostrated obeisances along the entire 8km route. It is at the same time as the Holi festival.

[edit] Transport Facilities

The transportation facilities of Janakpurdham is good with one airport that connects with capital(kathmandu) of Nepal. The Janakpur Railway is the only operational railway in Nepal. There are frequent buses (with coach and video coach) plying between Janakpurdham and other cities of Nepal. For travelling within the city, there are Manually pulled Rickshaws.

[edit] Food

Being the city of Terai and surrounded by various villages, the city have good supply of fresh vegetables as well as rice, cereals etc. The main food of the city is Rice, cereal and vegetables. There are too many retail shops where one can purchase these. And two Haat are also organised in which farmers and retailers from all over the neighbouring villages come to sell food and other stuffs.

[edit] Lodging

Lodging is not a problem for tourists here, as the city has more than five good hotels with complete facilities and number of small Lodges & Guest Houses. These vary in rates due to infrastructure and service provided but overall they are all inexpensive.It has also five fully iquiped Dharmashala (Place to stay free) which is made specially for the piligrams come to visit from defferent county for the religious celebrations like Vivah Panchmi, Ram Nawami, Dhashara etc.

[edit] Entertainment

For entertainment the city has five Cinema Halls one of which is a multiplex. They all show different latest as well as old movies in Hindi, Nepali as well as in English. The festival seasons are itself a great part of the entertainment in the city.

[edit] Education

The education in the city is one of the best in Nepal. With many competitive private schools, the city have many govt. colleges for further studies. The Dhanusha University is proposed.

[edit] Places to Visit

There are a number of places to visit in Janakpur:

  1. Janaki Mandir (Janaki Temple)
  2. Ram Mandir (The oldest temple of the city)
  3. Vivah Mandap with its beautiful garden
  4. Barah Bigah (The largest playground in the city)
  5. Ratna Sagar Temple(Ratna sagr Pond)
  6. Bihar Kund and Agni Kund Near Ramanand Chowk.
  7. The ancient Bibah Mandap Of God Ram & Sita Pidari -13,Rani Bajar.
  8. Ganga Sagar & Dhanush Sagar (The sacred ponds among many)
  9. The Shiva Mandir (Near Janaki Chowk)
  10. The Old Hanuman Mandir (Near Pirari Chowk)
  11. The Janak Cinema (The only multiplex theatre in the city)
  12. The City Airport
  13. The Rastriya Vanijya Bank (made from foreign contribution)
  14. The Janakpur Rail (It is fun riding the narrow gauge rail)
  15. The J. Women Development Centre (Near city Airport, have a close look at Mithila art)
  16. The only river of the city (Near Ward No. 1) and Many more

[edit] Development

Janakpurdham is one of the fast developing cities of Nepal and is on the way to meet the criteria for being the 7th Sub-Metropolitan city of Nepal. The reasons for its development are good transportation facilities including road and air connectivity with other cities of Nepal as well as India. Janakpurdham is the only city with Railway and there is a huge scope for its further development. Other factors adding to its development include better health facilities, good private schools and colleges, Internet service providers and internet connectivity.

There lies immense possibilities for further development of this city into a prosperous metro. This could only be achieved through reforms in the city like widening the roads, better protection of monuments, temples, and sagars; extending rail network, increasing capacity of airport, better pollution management and strengthening governance in the Municipality.

Janakpurdham has already begun to attract people from the surrounding villages and cities for getting better medical facilities, education as well jobs in recent years. The Janakpur Cigarette Factory Limited alone employs a large number of local people. And students come to the city for further study in R R college as well as other govt. and pvt. colleges. The education facility will be even more better with the construction of proposed Dhanusha University. For entertainment, the city boasts of five cinema halls one of which is a multiplex. The city also has good power management and generally does not have power shortages.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Janakpur Information & Culture Center. About Jankpurdham <http://www.janakpur.org/about.html> January 5, 2007. Accessed November 10, 2007.
  2. ^ World Aero Data. Janakpur Navaid. <http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?nav=JANAKPUR&nav_id=JKP&nav_type=5> Accessed November 10, 2007.
  3. ^ Samiti, Rastriya Samachar. "More Indian tourists visit Janakpurdham" Himalayan Times. JANUARY 18, 2004. <http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aBXaza0rfqzqla4a8a5ua.axamal&folder=aBDasaian729&Name=Business&dtSiteDate=20040118>