Janakpur - Town of Trains, Temples and Marital Bliss

Flying from Kathmandu to Janakpur is virtually like time travel. As the trusty old Avro discharges its passengers and you pick up your luggage in the tiny, shed-like arrival hall, you look for your transport into town. Sure enough, there it is - no shiny taxis, no sleek airport bus, but a dozen or so creaky cycle rickshaws. So, after half an hour on a flying miracle machine you suddenly find yourself dumped on a greasy seat, being laboriously pedalled over a bumpy country road. Your pilot is now a sweaty, skinny figure, who clearly has to use all his weight to get the vehicle moving. Your ears, still buzzing with the noise of the aeroplane engines, can hardly adjust to the quiet countryside and the squeaking of the pedals. A contrast if ever there was one!

Things move slowly in Janakpur. The town has it all - plenty of temples, scenic bathing tanks, fertile countryside and even Nepal's only railway line - but it still hasn't made it onto the tourist map. This may change soon, however, as efforts are underway to turn Janakpur into a major tourist and pilgrim destination.

Janakpur's focal point is the magnificent Janaki Mandir, a temple devoted to Sita, the divine heroine of the Hindu epic Ramayana. The Indian sage Valmiki supposedly wrote the Ramayana - The Story of Rama - sometime between 500 and 100 BC. This major epic, some 48,000 lines long, is also well known in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

As you approach the centre of town, you suddenly see the Janaki Mandir's Moghul-style towers rise above the surrounding buildings like some Fata Morgana - nothing in rural-looking Janakpur actually prepares one for this majestic, overwhelming view. Standing right in front of the temple one is humbled by the sheer mass of greyish-white stone, beautified by countless elegant arches, carved windows and spires. The overall impression is not so much that of a temple, but rather that of a maharaja's palace. You almost expect a formation of underlings to step out at any moment, pompously announcing his majesty's imminent arrival. From an architectural point of view, Janaki Mandir is positively unique in Nepal.

The temple was built in 1911 by the Rani of Tikamagarh (Central India), at a cost of 900,000 Rupees - in those days a dizzying amount of money. In local parlance, the temple is also called Nau Lakha Mandir or 'Temple of 900,000 Rupees'. In 1657, a golden statue of the Goddess Sita was found at the very spot, and Sita is also said to have lived there - indeed, another name for Sita is Janaki.

Sita's father was King Janak of Mithila, her mother - so goes the legend - was none other than Mother Earth. One day, when King Janak helped his subjects to plough their fields, Sita appeared in a furrow. She grew up to be a stunningly beautiful maiden, courted by all the nobles of her time. According to the Ramayana, Rama succeeded in marrying her, having proven his godly mettle by bending Shiva's bow and shooting an arrow to the highest heaven - a feat that no ordinary mortal could have achieved. The event is said to have taken place on Rangbhumi, an open field to the west of the temple. During her married life, Sita had to endure many trials and tribulations and she emerged a faithful and loyal spouse. In the Ramayana, the demon king Ravana kidnaps Sita to Sri Lanka, where he tries to force himself on her. Sita successfully resists, but later has to put up with her husband's undue suspicions. In the end her virtue prevails, and today Hindus regard Sita as the very ideal of a wife.

According to legend, Rama and Sita got married in Janakpur itself, at a spot called Mani Mandap, some 4km northwest of town. All you see there today is a grassy elevation - the mandap or 'platform' - with a dignified old banyan tree on it. Under one of the predecessors of this tree, Rama and Sita are said to have held their wedding reception. Some 50 metres to the north an unassuming, square concrete slab in the ground marks the spot where the wedding fire was kept. In Hindu tradition, the bridal couple has to take seven steps around the fire, with the groom leading the way and the bride following, being tied to him with her sari. In a rather new building next to the Janaki Mandir, the Rama Sita Vivaha Mandap, some colourful dolls have been employed to re-enact the wedding ceremony. Rama and Sita are seen in front of the traditional wedding fire, surrounded by sages, seers and royal guests.

With all its godly connotations, Janakpur just has to be a pilgrimage site. In November or December Rama Sita Vivaha Panchami is celebrated, a commemoration of the heavenly wedding. It attracts over a hundred thousand pilgrims, the majority from India (the Indian border is only 20km away.) Praying at the Janaki Mandir is supposed to ensure marital bliss, a prospect which mainly women seem to crave - for often women clearly outnumber men at the temple. In the early evening, groups of sari-clad women gather to sing the praises of Sita, often with heart-wrenching devotion. In town, countless little shops offer chura or plastic bangles, which are traditionally worn by married women. To buy them in Janakpur is deemed highly auspicious for the marriage.

Rainer Krack / CPA

Wall painting near Janakpur.

Another festival is the Parikrama or 'round-about' in March. Thousands of pilgrims circle the town via the main ring road. During their circumambulation they have to stop at 14 prescribed spots for an overnight stay, making this a festival for people with lots of time on their hands. Aside from the festivals, Janakpur is a sleepy little backwater with few visitors.

"I am determined to put Janakpur on the tourist map", says Mahendra Mishra, executive director of the government-funded Greater Janakpur Area Development Committee. "There is lots here to attract visitors, but so far general apathy has prevented things from moving."

Mr. Mishra, having given up a well-paid lecturer's job with Tribhuvan University, is set to bring some dynamism to Janakpur. Sitting in his first floor office in the Janaki Mandir he ponders the future development of what is in fact his hometown. To make Janakpur more conducive to pilgrims, a huge and well laid-out pilgrims' hostel is to open late this year - allow for flexible Nepali time! - making the town's flea-infested older lodges redundant. (The town boasts three half-decent hotels, but these are too expensive for the average pilgrim.) The Venkateshwara Temple of Tirupati, the richest temple in India, will finance the new hostel, comprising cheap as well as deluxe accommodation. Westerners will be welcome at the hostel, as long as they do not break the house rules - no alcohol and no meat on the premises. And no marital fights, one might also surmise!

Besides the Janaki Mandir, Janakpur has 120 lesser temples, plus 24 bathing tanks, some of them surrounded by strikingly beautiful countryside. If there is a place to avoid, it is the pathetic Hanuman Durbar, a shrine 'honouring' a 55kg rhesus monkey. The poor creature, supposedly the heaviest rhesus monkey on earth, is whiling away his days in a tiny, dirty cage. Some locals regard him as the manifestation of the monkey god Hanuman.

A much happier sight can be seen at the Janakpur Railway Station. The ramshackle station is the 'hub' - for lack of a better word - of Janakpur Railway, Nepal's only operational railway line. Its total length is a mere 51km. From Janakpur, trains go northwest to the hamlet of Bijalpura in Nepal and southeast to Jaynagar in India. The railway was constructed in the 1930s, mainly to transport goods, but these days, the wagons are teeming with people ... and more people ... and yet more people. Watching the battered wagons fill with passengers, one wonders if there is a clandestine agreement, as when to breathe in and when to breathe out - if all inhale at the same time, the carriage may explode for lack of space! Luckily, wagons do have roofs, and so a large section of the clientele contrives to squat up there. Extra luggage - like bicycles - is simply tied to the iron bars of the windows. The most amazing scenes occur around holidays, when everybody seems to be going somewhere. Then even the sturdy little steam engine is covered with people, making it look like an iron horse that bravely trudges on despite the swarm of flies on its back. Some passengers settle down in the driver's cabin, perhaps discussing the frequent flyer programmes of various airlines.

Rainer Krack / CPA

Janakpur railway.

For a good close-up view of the steam engines proceed by train to the village of Khajuri, some 15km towards the Indian border. Here, in a loco-shed, the eleven British-made engines of Janakpur Railway are kept. Or you may visit the loco-shed on the eastern side of Janakpur Station, where an engine is serviced each morning (around 7am). You'll see half a dozen grubby railway men fetching coal in pitifully small and flat wicker baskets. To get the coal loaded in time, the engine driver often has to lend a hand.

After the coal has been put in its rightful place - a task that seems to take ages - the engine is ready for the day's first departure. Usually there are three trains per day, one going to Bijalpura, the others to Jaynagar in India. Foreigners are not allowed to cross the border, but exceptions have been heard of. Knowing somebody in the higher echelons of officialdom might possibly do the trick.

Rainer Krack / CPA

Boy in Janakpur.

On Saturday though, Janakpur Station comes alive for a different reason. At noon, some 50 or 60 destitute people gather on the platform and wait patiently for an Indian-born businessman, known affectionately as Shankerji, who runs a popular little restaurant-cum-sweet-shop near the Janaki Mandir. On Saturdays, he makes a point of laying all business aside and personally distributing food to the poor. "To feel humble at least once in a week", as he puts it. First, he neatly places a piece of banana leaf in front of each of his flock. Then dips a ladle into a big barrel of kichri (cooked rice and lentils) and carefully heaps the food on each banana leaf. Finally, everyone gets a sweet, a prospect most enjoyed by the many children in the group. Shankerji's free Saturday kitchen has now become an institution, looked forward to by Janakpur's poorest.

Come evening, everybody in Janakpur, rich or poor, will flock to the Janaki Mandir to pay their respects to Sita and Rama. As the temple compound fills with the sacred sounds of 'Jai Sita Ram' (Hail to Sita and Rama), one feels strangely uplifted - a magical moment in a magical place.

After all, the gods wouldn't marry in just any old town, would they?

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