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 바카라Swadesh Darshan바카라 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 2015바카라a 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 Bihar바카라s 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 isn바카라t new in Bihar. Along with ideologically secular tourism called the Gandhi Circuit바카라which 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 British바카라and 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 Sita바카라s 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. 바카라Why is the Modi government not showering similar blessings on Sitamarhi as it showers on Ayodhya,바카라 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. 바카라But how can Ram be without Sita? There is a lot of context of nature in Sita바카라s stories and her story is about women바카라s courage,바카라 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 BJP바카라s ideological journey. Many feel that Sita wasn바카라t given her rightful place as Ram바카라s 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 Valmiki바카라s 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 Vaishali바카라s king, Sumati. They later walked down to Ahalya바카라s ashram, now known as Ahirouri in Mithilapuri (present Darbhanga).
At the Buxar railway station, paintings depicting Ram바카라s arrival at the Ramrekha Ghat adorn the walls. One of the paintings shows Tadka Vadh where Ram is seen attacking Tadka바카라a yakshi바카라with an arrow.
바카라Ramrekha Ghat is an important place in Ramayan. Vishwamitra imparted valuable lessons to Ram at the ghat,바카라 informs a priest. 바카라Vishwamitra 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,바카라 says the priest.
Baban Choudhary, the boatman at the ghat, says in the past five-six years, their earnings have gone up. 바카라It 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,바카라 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. 바카라Earlier, there were only a couple of prasad shops but now there are many. It has impacted our business,바카라 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. 바카라I 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,바카라 he says.
However, despite being a part of the Ramayan Circuit, the ghat lacks basic infrastructure. 바카라There are no changing rooms for women at the ghat. Also, the temples around the ghat need renovation,바카라 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.
바카라The 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 Buxar바카라s Chausa in 1539. These spots should also be developed,바카라 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. 바카라Very few tourists come here. The shopkeepers here barely earn anything,바카라 says Neeraj Thakur, a local resident.
The state바카라s 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 state바카라in 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 minister바카라s push for a Vande Bharat train between Ayodhya and Sitamarhi is an indication that the state is keen to promote Sita바카라s birthplace just as Uttar Pradesh is promoting Ram바카라s birthplace.
(Views expressed are personal)
Umesh Kumar Ray is a Bihar-based independent journalist
This article is a part of Outlook'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'.
