Lord Rama and Sita are said to have stayed in the forest here for 11 years of their 14 year exile. Chitra literally means “beautiful” and kut means “mountain.” Chitrakut is by the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, 132km south of Allahabad.

It is a nice peaceful place to stop for a day or two while going between Khajuraho and either Allahabad or Varanasi via Satna. This town is one of the nicer towns in India.

Bharata, the brother of Rama, came to Chitrakut and begged Rama to return to Ayodhya, but Rama would not disobey his father’s order. Rama stayed on Kamadgiri, which means “the hill that can fulfill all desires.”

Nearby lived the sage Atri and his wife Anusuya. Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are said to have taken incarnations here. It is said that Anusuya made the Ganges appear as the Mandakini River, because holy water was needed for her husband’s penance. Lord Rama would bathe daily in that river. Sita’s footprints are said to be embedded in the rocks at Janaki Kund, where she took bath.

There are over 30 temples in the town, and there are bathing ghats along the Mandakini River (also called Payasvini or Paisuni River).

Chitrakut is a peaceful place and is untouched by the foreign tourist trail. It is relatively hassle-free. On a major festival day over 100,000 people come to Chitrakut. Villagers mainly visit this place for the day. Every day bus loads of pilgrims come here.

Information
The UP Tourist Office, next to the UP Tourist Bungalow, has no literature about Chitrakut in English, but they can be a little helpful. You can get useful tourist information at the Madhya Pradesh Tourist Bungalow and a brochure in English about the sites in the area.

Seeing the Sites
The central part of town is the Ramghat area by the Madhya Pradesh Tourist Bungalow. You can see the town in three sections. One is the Ramghat area. Then you can take an auto-rickshaw to both Hanuman Dhara and Kamadgiri Hill. In the morning there are buses leaving every half-hour on Char Dhama that goes to Janaki Kund, Sati Anusuya, Sphatik Shila, and Gupta Godavari. You get the bus about a hundred metres from the Madhya Pradesh Tourist Hotel. Ask for the Char Dhama bus, which costs about Rs 25. Buses also go to Hanuman Dhara. You can also hire a jeep to take you to all these places.

Ramghat
Ramghat, the main bathing ghat in town, is located in the center of Chitrakut, on the banks of the Mandakini River. It is a peaceful ghat where you can take a tranquil boat ride for around Rs 20 for a half-hour.

Kamadgiri Hill
Kamadgiri Hill (Old Chitrakut) is a forest-covered hill that is surrounded by a 5km parikrama path, with temples all the way around the hill. Every day many people walk around the hill barefoot. Rama is said to have lived here. One of the major temples here is the Shree Kamatanath Temple. The Bharat Milap Temple is located on the back side of the hill. It marks the spot where Bharat, the brother of Rama, is said to have tried to convince Rama to return to Ayodhya, to be the king.

Right after you past the Bharat Milap Temple there is a path that leads to Laksman Pahadi. On this hill, Laksman is said to have maintained guard for Rama and Sita. There is a Laksman Temple on top of the hill.

Janaki Kund
This is a peaceful place, located 2km upstream from Ramghat on the bank of the Mandakini River. Sita, who is also known as Janaki, the daughter of Janaka, is said to have bathed here. The Rama Janaki Raghuveer Temple is situated here. There is also the Sankat Mochan Hanuman deity here. You can reach this place by road or by a 2km boat ride from Ramghat.

Sphatik Shila
Sphatik Shila is a few km upstream from Janaki Kund, on the bank of the Mandakini River. There is a boulder here that is supposed to have the footprints of Rama on it. Sita was also supposed to have been pecked by Jayant, who was in the form of crow, while standing on this boulder.

Sati Anusuya
Sati Anusuya is upstream from Janaki Kund, about 16km from the center of town. It is said that at this place Atri Muni and his wife, Anusuya, had their ashram with their three sons, who were incarnations of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. There is a temple here that has a deity of Anusuya swinging her three babies. There are also nice dioramas (statues), which tell the story of Atri Muni and Anusuya, but the captions are just in Hindi. There are many hungry monkeys at this place who will grab anything they see to eat.

Gupta Godavari
Gupta Godavari is about 18km from the town. Located here are two caves. One is wide and high and has an entrance that is hard to enter. At the end of this cave is a small pond, which is said to be the same as the Godavari River. The other cave is long and narrow with water in it. Rama and his brother, Laksman, are said to have held court at the end of the cave.

Hanuman Dhara
 There is a spring several hundred feet up the hillside, on the rock-face, that is said to have been made by Rama to relieve Hanuman when he returned after setting Lanka on fire. It is a hard walk up the hill, which has many monkeys on it. The Panch Mukhi (five-headed) Hanuman Dhara deity is on this hill. You get a great view of the town of Chitrakut from here. Sita Rasoi (the kitchen of Sita) is on top of the hill here.

Bharata Koop
This is where Bharata, the brother of Rama, is said to have stored water collected from all the pilgrimage places in India. It is at an isolated place, about a half hour from town.

Where to Stay
Annapurna Hotel, by Ramghat, has simple rooms for Rs 75/100 a night.
Yatrika, outside of town by Janaki Kund, has simple rooms for about the same price.
There are many simple cheap dharamshalas in town such as the Pramod Van Dharamshala. Many do not have beds.
Madhya Pradesh Tourist Hotel (0519768/326), by the Satna bus stand, near Ram Ghat, is the best place to stay. Rooms are Rs 250/350. It is centrally located and quiet.
UP Tourist Bungalow (0519768/219), Karbi Rd, Sitapur, has rooms for Rs 350/450 and dorm beds for Rs 70.
Shree Kamadgiri Bhawan, on Ratnavali Marg, between the two tourist bungalows, is a nice place that has rooms with common bath for up to three people for Rs 125 and Rs 250 with attached bath.
Jaipuriya Hotel is a good place with rooms for about Rs 250.

Where to Eat
Being a holy place, no meat, fish, or eggs are sold in Chitrakut. There are restaurants at both the Madhya Pradesh and UP Tourist Bungalows.
Shree Kamadgiri Bhawan has thalis for Rs 20.
Jaipuriya Hotel has a restaurant, as does the Annapurna Hotel.
When I went to Chitrakut there was no bottled water or cold drinks sold there. I asked the hotel manager where I was staying to have water boiled for drinking.

Travel
Air The nearest airports are Khajuraho (175km) and Varanasi (260km). Neither is very easy to reach.

Train The closest train station is at Chitrakoot (Chitrakut) Dhama Karvi on the Jhansi-Manikpur main line about 10km from Chitrakut. From there you can get a train to Allahabad, Delhi, Luck­now, Mathura and Varanasi. There is a 12.30 am train that goes to Allahabad and then onto Varanasi arriving in the morning. The Mahakosal Exp #1449 departs to Delhi (14 hr) via Mathura (11 hr) and Agra in the afternoon. The Mahakosal Exp #1450 departs from Mathura to Chitrakut.

Bus There are many buses going to Chitrakut from places in the area, including Allahabad, Satna, Mahoba, and Jhansi. The bus stand for some buses going north is located next to the UP Tourist Bungalow, slightly north of town.
In Allahabad the buses to Chitrakut depart from the Zero Road bus station. In the morning you can get direct luxury buses from private companies in the Zero Road area.

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