OLD COUPLES KASHI YATRA VIA KHAJURAHO (3)

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November 15th 2009

Published: November 15th 2009

OLD COUPLES KASHI YATRA VIA KHAJURAHO (3)

25th September, 2007 - Tuesday. --- CHITRAKOOT.

At 8 am we started our onward journey from Khajuraho. After vacating the room and taking breakfast in the restaurant maintained by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department, we continued our onward journey towards Chitrakoot. Travelling via Panna, Satna and Kothi we reached Chitrakoot by 2 pm. The distance between Khajuraho and Chitrakoot is 216 km. Chitrakoot means the Hill of many wonders. . We took rooms in the guest house maintained by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department and after taking lunch and brief rest, proceeded to visit the places of interest in Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot is partly in Madhya Pradesh and partly in U.P. All sight seeing places are on the side of Madhya Pradesh State.

Chitrakoot is the deep forest place where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana lived in exile for eleven and half of years of their fourteen years exile during their vanavasam. It is here the Ashramams of Atri Maharshi, Markandeya, Sarabhanga, Sutikshna, the student of Agastya, were located. It is at this are Shri Rama killed demon Viradha. It is also said in Ramayan that all the Gods and Goddesses came to Chitrakoort when Sri Rama performed the Shraddha ceremony of his father. It is on the advice of Sage Bharadwaja and Valmiki Sri Rama made this place as his abode during the period of his exile and the other purpose is to kill the demons who were obstructing the yajnams and tapas of the Sages. The place is abounding in monkeys, bears and various other kinds of teerthas. It is here that Sri Rama gave his padukas to Bharata who installed the same on the throne of Ayodhya till his return. Very recently it is said that Tulasidas spent quite some part of his life here worshipping Sri Rama and craving for his Darshan. Rama left this place to Dandakaranya as his mission was to destroy the demons.

It is here on the banks of River Mandakini, the ashramams of Atri and Anasuya are located. On entering the Chitrakoot, we find notice boards giving details of the places to be visited here and the route-map. We did not find any tourist guides at this place. We have visited the following places before it was dark:

(i) Gupta Godavari - This place is situated at a distance of about 18 km from the village. There is a Hill at this place which has a pair of caves and many steps, some very steep, to reach. Finding the steps unmanageable my wife indicated her helplessness to reach the caves and settled to sit under an audumbara tree where the idol of Dattatreya was installed. Myself and Mr. & Mrs.V.K.couple slowly climbed the steps and entered the caves. One cave is very high and wide from which a stream of water is running along its base. This stream is called Gupta Godavari. The other cave is very narrow through which one can barely pass through. Idols of Sita, Ram and Lakshman were placed in these caves and there are two natural throne like rocks where Sri Rama is believed to have held his court to the visitors.

GUPTA GODAVARI FLOWING FROM THE CAVE.

(ii) Sati Anasuya Ashramam - This Ashramam was also located on the banks of River Mandakini, which was at a distance of about 15 km from the village. It is at this place Sri Dattatreya was born to Sati Anasuya. Vehicles are stopped at a distance of about half a km and one has to walk to reach the Ashramam. Most of the pilgrims visiting the religious tourist places are old, infirm and not physically fit at least 50%. The authorities managing the religious places should keep in their mind this factor and allow such infirm and old pilgrims to travel upto the nearest point in their vehicle. Beautiful statues of Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the chariot are constructed. Idols of Atri, Anasuya and Dattatreya are located in the Ashramam.

(iii) Sphatika Sila - On the banks of River Mandakini there is a big boulder which bears the foot print of Sri Rama. It is said that Sri Rama and Sita used to rest on this boulder. The legend says that at this place Sita was disturbed at by Jayant in the form of a crow.
After visiting the above places before it was dark we returned to our rooms and took rest for the day.
26th September, 2007 - Wednesday.
After taking coffee and finishing our morning rituals, we started early to visit the remaining places of interest in Chitrakoot.
(iv) Shri Ramghat - First we directly proceeded to the Ramghat on the banks of Mandakini River. Here many pilgrims and holy-men in saffron take a bath in the river and sit in silent meditation. The holy men in saffron offer the solace of their wisdom to the countless pilgrims who visit the place. We engaged a boat to show all the important temples and ghats situated on either side of the banks of the River. The place is said to be very holy because Shri Rama, Shri Sita and Shri Lakshmana and the countless Sages took bath at this place in the river. We have not bathed in the river but sprinkled the holy river water on us thinking that we had the Mantra Snanam in the River Mandakini at the place where Sri Rama and Sri Sita had bathed. It is at this place Sri Rama was said to have performed Pinda Pradanam and Shraddha Karmas to his father which divine act appears to have been witnessed by several Gods and Goddesses standing in cognito in the sky. Many a tourists perform Shraddha Karmas to their ancestors on visiting this place.

(v) Bharat Milap Temple complex - After finishing the trip on the boat we proceeded to visit the town. There are several temple complexes constructed by devotees. We visited one such temple by name Bharat Milap Temple complex which depicted various scenes of Ramayanam. It is the belief of pilgrims that Bharata tried to persuade Shri Rama to return to Ayodhya at this place.
(vi) Kamadgiri - Hill - This Hill is said to be the original Chitrakoot and hence is the place of prime religious significance. The entire hill is surrounded by various temples. Devoted religious tourists perform parikrama to the Hill. We on our part satisfied doing parikrama in our Car witnessing various temples on the way from our car itself.

SHRI KAMTHNATH ON KAMADGIRI HILL

After visiting the above places we returned to our Lodge and had a heavy breakfast said to be brunch - a combination of breakfast and lunch. Our Brunch consisted of Alu Parata, with Kachar, an instant lime-like pickle, and Curd. One has to admit that the Curd in this part of the country is very tasty. As we have visited most of the religious places in Chitrakoot, we vacated our rooms at 11 am and proceeded towards Prayaga, the present day Allahabad.

Madhya Pradesh State is very wide and less populated compared to Uttar Pradesh. Our journey from Pachmarhi to Chitrakoot was mostly in forest area and very less populated. The moment we crossed the Border of Madhya Pradesh and entered the State of Uttar Pradesh, we found to our surprise very thick population on the roads as well as in villages. My friend Mr.V,K. aptly commented that it looked as if the sky is suddenly raining population, the moment we entered Uttar Pradesh. Travelling through Karwai, Mau we reached Allahabad by 2 pm. The distance from Chitrakoot to Allahabad is 137 KM.

OM TAT SAT OM TAT SAT OM TAT SAT

RAGHAVARAO U.V.G.V. DUGGIRALA,
HYDERABAD, 15th NOVEMBER, 2009.

OLD COUPLES KASHI YATRA VIA KHAJURAHO (3)

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