Janakpur is the birthplace of Sita, the wife of Ram (the hero of the famous hindu epic poem Ramayana). The central story of Ramayana revolves around Ram’s wife Sita being abducted by Ravana (the main villain) to Lanka (which is now Sri Lanka) and Ram and his brother Laxman, with the help of Hanuman (a monkey-faced devotee of Ram) and his team of monkeys, going on a battle to get Sita back. It is, along with Mahabharata, the most famous epic for the Hindus. Most of their culture and customs come from what is prescribed in these books. So you need to have some knowledge of these books if you want to understand the Hindus as well as the people of Nepal.

The place is named after Sita’s father Janak, who was the king of this city during his time. It is believed that there was a golden statue of Sita in this area, and therefore, a temple has been built there in her name. The temples and other buildings here are built in classical structures, so when you are in this place it feels like you are going back in time and living in some ancient historical period.

Janakpur is at a distance of 225 km south of Kathmandu and only about 20 km near the border of India. Therefore, every year thousands of pilgrims both from Nepal and India visit this place.

You can either fly directly from Kathmandu to Janakpur, which takes about 25 minutes, or drive there by bus, which takes about 10 hours. Once you are in Janakpur, you will drive and walk around several temples and sacred places such as Janaki temple, Ratna Sagar temple, Dulha Dulhi temple, and Ram Mandi.