Janakpur's temples Bibaha Panchami Festival Janakpur's Railway

Janakpur's railway

Nepal Janakpur - Jayanagar Railway (NJJR) operates a freight and passenger service in the Eastern Terai. The Janakpur-Jayanagar railway line which is a narrow gauge line covering a distance of 52 km is the only railway line in Nepal. It is being operated by the Nepal Transport Corporation.

The performance of railways has remained poor for a long time and the situation has further deteriorated in recent years. The railway services have been seriously affected but sufficient enough to cover the costs.

Janakpur: Sorry state of Nepal's only railway (December 2002)

Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway, facing continuous problems of resource, management and lack of facilities; and which is in an advanced state of deterioration, celebrated its 65th anniversary.
The Janakpur-Jayanager Railway had been established in 1933 by the British rulers in India for transportation of Sankhu timber from Bijulpur forest of Mahottari. The tracks at Janakpur-Jamangar has been used for carrying passengers without necessary further improvement works and still the same trend exists. The railway accident, which occurred on August 28, 2002 that claimed three lives points to the deteriorating physical infrastructure and weak administrative system there.

Double standard policy affects Janakpur railway (April 2002)

Janakpur Railway, which was to be operated under the Company Act, has been ruined by the government's double standard policies. The railway is now operating under the Railway Act - 2020 after the Nepal Transport Corporation was dismissed. The recent appointment of an Executive Officer in March by a cabinet decision has given way to confusion as to who will be appointed as the Chief Executive, a senior post presently occupied by the railway manager. -According to the Railway Act - 2020, it states that a Manager is the chief executive who regularly and lawfully operates the services of the railways. However, the cabinet has also appointed Kiran Kishor Ghimire, Member Secretary of the Railway committee of the Ministry of Labour and Transportation Management as Executive Chief. -According to information available from the Janakpur railways, without clearly clarifying the dissemination of work, responsibility and rights, Executive Chief Ghimire has already started to run accounts and also has started to sign in demand forms. "The requirements of the railway company is to make available necessary material and equipment to develop infrastructure, but is instead imposing more economic and administrative burdens," said Sital Jha of UML Zone Committee. -Dirga Narayan Regmi, railway Manager, who does not know about the rights, work and responsibilities of the new Executive Chief, said that the appointment of the Chief has not created any problems till date.

Year	Passenger Traffic	Goods Traffic
1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1994-95 1995-96 (First nine months)	1,100,000 884,000 725,000 1,118,000 835,000	15,000.0 14,000.0 11,000.0 6,900.0 4,700.0
2014	out of operation

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Janakpur's temples

Janakpur teems with famous and attractive temples, shrines and ponds (kunds and sagars). These are vividly described in the Jain scripture, Mithila Tirthakalpa, Mithila Mahatmya and Bhoo 'Parikrama' written by the Great Maithil Poet Kokil Vidyapati in the 14th century:

Ram Mandir (Temple)

'Ram Mandir' is the oldest temple of Janakpur so far its construction is concerned. It was built in famous Neplease (Pagoda) style by General Amar Singh Thapa in AD 1782. Initially, it was established by Sannyasi Chaturbhuj Giri under a buyan tree. Visitors can see the image of Shree Ram Pamchayatan and ancient images of laxmi Narayan Vishnu simultaneously. The pit is a storehouse of artistic images sculpted in black stone during the reign of the Guptas. The temple of the family deity of Rajarsi Janak- 'Rajdevi'- is situated in the campus of the main temple.

Dulha - Dulhan Temple

This temple is also called Shree Ramananda Ashram and 'Shree Mithila Kanak Bhawan'. Lord Ram is believed to have stayed here in the 'Kohvar - Kunj' (room separated for the first night) as the bridegroom as per the Mithula tradition. This temple also houses the images of Ram - Sita in their traditional wedding robes. The architect has displayed through magnificent glasses the shades of Ram - Sita performing a wedding rite called Bhanwar. The temple has also preserved the images and charn - paduka (special wooden slippers) of Shree Sampradayacharya Shree Ramananda.

Other famous temples include Hanumangarhi, Shiva Temple (at Shiva Chowk), Kapileshwar Mahadev (at Kapileshwar) and Kusheshwar Mahadev (Kuwa).

Janaki Temple

Janaki Temple, popularly known as Naulakha, is the most renowned pilgrimage of Janakpur. The legend had it that it was built on the holy site where Sannyasi Shurkishordas hadfound the images of Goddess Sita. In fact, Shurkishordas was the founder of modern Janakpur and the great saint and poetwho preached about the 'Sita - Upasana' philosophy. The present mahantha (chief or head) of the temple is the14th descendant of the shishya (disciple-tradition). This temple was built by Queen Brisabhanu Kunwar of Tikamgarh (Central India) in AD 1911. It is originally an illustration of'Hindu-Rajput' architecture with a blend of hte Moghularchitecture. This is the only attractive model of hte Moghul architecture in Nepal.

There is a grand Ram - Janki 'Vivah Mandap' is an excellent example of Neplease architecture. It has several panoramic and standard roof structures in the form of mandaps (pavilions)propped on the smooth and ornamented columns of marble, which are erected on the square platforms. This building is a major attraction for the tourists for its location amidst bewitching landscape (garden). Besides, there are many ancient (big and small) temples and hermitages in janakpur. A few of them are described below:

Janaki Temple is dedicated to the goddess Sita

This temple is centrally located in Janakpur. Legend has it that King Janak performed the worship of 'Shiva - Dhanus' on this vey site. This temple has preserved the broken idol of King Janak and other beautiful idols.

Laxman Temple

This temple is situated in the campus of Janaki Temple. It houses the images of Ram - Sita and Laxman as well the images of the twin sons of Sita - Lava and Kush.

Sankat Mochan

This famous temple of Hanuman (monkey god) is situated northwest to the Rangbhumi stadium.

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Bibaha Panchami Festival

Glorious processions carrying the images of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita, accompanied with traditional musical bands is taken around the historic holy town of Janakpur on the auspicious occasion of Bibaha Panchami end of the year. The procession ceremony forms the most important part of the week long festival which is organised to commemorate the marriage ceremony of Lord Rama and Goddess Sita. This took place during the Treta Yuga or the 'silver age' when the almighty took human forms and led ideal lives on earth to set an example for humans.

As soon as the procession with the sedan of Goddess Sita was taken out of the age-old Janaki temple, a chopper showered flowers from the sky on the sedan as described in the holy scripture, Ram Charitra Manas. This enthralled the participants of the procession as well as the onlookers. Sages and Gods had showered flowers on the sedan of Goddess Sita during her marriage ceremony in the Treta Yuga. The chopper was arranged by Kishori Mahato, a local social worker.

Another procession carrying the image of Lord Ram started from Ram temple. Both the processions met at Barahabidha's open ground. Later , both the processions entered the Janaki temple after circumvating the major areas in the town. The marriage ceremony of the Lord and the Goddess has be performed in accordance with the Mithila tradition during the night.