Janakpur

You can reach Janakpur by air or road from Kathmandu, or by train or road from India.

The flight from Kathmandu takes about 25 minutes, and Janakpur Airport is about 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the Janaki Mandir. Two domestic airlines listed many daily departures in September 2026. E-rickshaws wait outside the airport and take about 20 minutes to the temple, and in 2019 the drivers bargained hard. Winter fog cancels flights on some days in December and January.

By car the drive from Kathmandu takes about 6 hours over about 210 km on the BP Highway, through Banepa, Sindhuli and Bardibas. Other sources give 220 km and 225 km for the same journey. The Roshi River crossed its danger level on this corridor on 25 September 2026, and 2026 headlines reported a traffic halt in June and passengers trapped by a flood in May. A daily 7:00 am tourist bus was launched in November 2018, and whether it still runs is not verified.

Trains run between Jaynagar in Bihar, Janakpurdham, Kurtha and Bhangaha (Bijalpura), a line of about 52.5 km, for Indian and Nepali citizens. The Jaynagar to Janakpur to Bhangaha service was closed until further notice on 31 July 2026, after the curfew in Dhanusha, and no reopening notice was found as of 25 September 2026. Third-country nationals are not allowed to cross into India on this line: “Nepal will not allow people from third countries to travel to India by rail”.

The two most recent published timetables are stale. A winter schedule of unknown year ran services from 7:30 am to 7:15 pm, with one Bhangaha to Jaynagar round trip and three Janakpur to Jaynagar round trips a day. A timetable from Baisakh 2080 (April 2023) ran Kurtha 7:15 am, Janakpur 7:30 am, Jaynagar 9:15 am, and Kurtha 2:45 pm, Janakpur 3:00 pm, Jaynagar 4:45 pm. In 2022 tickets were sold at the stations, not through IRCTC.

By road from India, the nearest border crossings are Jatahi, about 11 km away, and Bhittamod, about 19 km, both open to Indian and Nepali citizens. The Mahavir Mandir trust runs a daily bus from Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi through Haleshwar Sthan and Panthpakar to Janakpur and back. A Janakpur to Ayodhya bus was launched on 11 May 2018, and its current timetable was not found. In town, e-rickshaws, cycle rickshaws and tempos serve the city.

Indian groups typically spend 3 to 4 hours at four sites in Janakpur, and two nights covers the city, Mani Mandap, Dhanushadham and Jaleshwar. Flying from Kathmandu, in about 25 minutes, fits a two-day plan. By road, allow about 6 hours each way.

A suggested two-day visit:

• Day 1, morning: bathe or take darshan at Dhanush Sagar or Ganga Sagar, then the 7:00 am aarti at the Janaki Mandir, the museum, Vivah Mandap, the Rajdevi temple, and the Ram Mandir by Dhanush Sagar.
• Day 1, midday: while the sanctum is closed from about 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm, go by car or e-rickshaw to the Janakpur Women’s Development Center at Kuwa and to Mani Mandap.
• Day 1, evening: the Maha Ganga Aarti at Ganga Sagar, and the evening aarti at the lit Janaki Mandir, 6:00 to 7:30 pm.
• Day 2: Dhanushadham, 16 to 18 km away, and Jaleshwar, 13 km away, and Matihani if you have time.

Nepal’s Film Development Board gives mid-September to mid-December and mid-February to mid-April as the best months to visit Janakpur.

No special permit is needed for Janakpur itself. Indian citizens need no visa but must carry a valid passport or an Election Commission voter ID. Foreign nationals of other countries need a Nepal visa, available on arrival only at designated entry points.

None of the designated entry points for foreigners is near Janakpur. If you are not Indian or Nepali and travel overland from India, enter at Birgunj (Raxaul) or Biratnagar (Jogbani) and continue by road.

Since July 2026, Nepal Rastra Bank has allowed Indian and Nepali nationals to carry post-November 2016 ₹200 and ₹500 notes into Nepal, “up to a limit of Rs 25,000 per person”. ₹2,000 notes remain banned, as are pre-2016 ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. Cash above the equivalent of US$5,000 must be declared.

A February 2026 report says Indian tourists can pay by QR code through their own banking apps in Nepal. One report dates the note rule from 15 December 2025, and the Nepal Rastra Bank notice was reissued on 24 July 2026.

No official entry fee for the Janaki Mandir was found, and a guidebook of unknown date gives the museum fee as NPR 15. Prices are in the currency each source used, and no dated exchange rate is given here.

Janakpur had 46 hotels and lodges with 1,380 beds in FY 2018/19, according to the tourism office, and booking-site averages were about US$21 to 62 a night in September 2026. Dharmashalas, pilgrim rest houses such as the Gopal Dharmashala, also take guests. A local hotel’s guide says hotel capacity is limited in Vivah Panchami week.

Janakpur involves easy, flat walking on the Terai plain, and altitude is not a concern. The strain for elderly visitors comes from heat, which reached 38 °C on 21 April 2026, and from festival crowds, which reach lakhs at Vivah Panchami. Walkers on the parikrama often go barefoot. At Mani Mandap in 2019 the priest excused small children from removing their shoes on hot days. No rule barring non-Hindus from the Janaki Mandir premises was found, and one 2026 guide says Vivah Panchami is open to visitors of all backgrounds.

The main health risks at Janakpur are heat from April to June, cold waves and fog in December and January, and monsoon flooding on the access roads. The city lies on the flat Terai plain, so altitude is not a concern. Janakpur recorded 38 °C on 21 April 2026, according to the chief of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology’s Janakpur office. Cold waves in January 2023 killed five people in Madhesh within three weeks.

A 2025 provincial inspection of nine hotels found kitchen hygiene problems, and the city’s piped water is limited. The main public hospital is the Madhesh Institute of Health Sciences, or Provincial Hospital.

No permit is needed for Janakpur itself. You can fly or drive in and get around by e-rickshaw. For foreigners who are not Indian, the practical constraint is the entry point: the train from Jaynagar and the nearby land borders are closed to them, so they arrive by air through Kathmandu or overland through Birgunj or Biratnagar. Visit Mani Mandap by day, with a driver.

Pilgrims commonly combine Janakpur with Dhanushadham and Jaleshwar in a two-night visit. Indian pilgrims can add Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi, about 40 km (25 miles) away, which Bihar’s pilgrim bus links with Janakpur in one day. Ayodhya, about 500 km (311 miles) away, is linked by the 2018 bus.

A suggested order, based on the sources:

1. Dhanush Sagar or Ganga Sagar, for a bath or darshan before the temple, which is considered sacred.
2. The Janaki Mandir for the 7:00 am aarti and darshan of Sita at the spot where she is believed to have been found.
3. The Cultural Museum, with Sita’s life from the yagya to the wedding.
4. Vivah Mandap, the popular wedding site.
5. The Rajdevi temple of Janaka’s family goddess.
6. The Ram Mandir and Dhanush Sagar, the oldest temple and the bow pond.
7. In the evening, the Maha Ganga Aarti at Ganga Sagar, and the evening aarti at the lit Janaki Mandir, 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

• Remove your shoes at the shrines.
• Women pilgrims often wear their best saris.
• Before you travel, check for curfews or prohibitory orders, especially around Dashain immersions and during regional unrest.

Nepal’s Ancient Monument Preservation Act regulates archaeological objects and monuments more than 100 years old. Do not remove stones, pottery or old artefacts from temple grounds or excavation sites.

Janakpur Airport has a passenger help desk, free Wi-Fi and parking. Mithila sweets sold in Janakpur include lal mohan, buniya laddoo, kaju and pista barfi, jalebi and peda. Mithila paintings, saris, fabrics and Mithila bedsheets are sold in the city.

• Mani Mandap, 4.5 km away, is also held to be the wedding site.
• The sanctum shuts for about four hours at midday.
• The Cultural Museum inside the temple complex.
• Foreigners who are not Indian cannot use the Jaynagar train or the nearby land borders.
• Aadhaar is not accepted for entry to Nepal.
• Winter flights may be cancelled by fog.

In the Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda, sarga 66, King Janaka tells the sage Vishvamitra that Sita rose from the earth while he was ploughing and clearing a field, and so is known as Sita. Verse 1.66.13 reads:

Other Ramayanas and Puranas give different birth stories, among them the Ananda, Adbhuta and Adhyatma Ramayanas, the Kamba Ramayana and the Devi Bhagavata.

Three framings of Sita’s birthplace exist, and each has its own supporters.

On 8 August 2025, India’s Home Minister laid the foundation of a new Sita temple at Punaura Dham, and priests from Janakpur attended.

Two tales circulate about the image in the Janaki Mandir. In one, the ascetic Surkishore Das found a golden image of Sita on the spot, commonly dated 1657. In the other, the image was found near Ayodhya, by the Saryu river. A culture expert quoted in 2018 put the Rama and Janaki images at about 700 years old.

According to the Valmiki Ramayana, the bow of Shiva came into Janaka’s line after the Daksha episode. Janaka made lifting and stringing it the condition for Sita’s hand, and the kings who failed besieged Mithila for a year. Rama’s breaking of the bow is re-enacted as the Dhanush Yagya at the Rangbhumi, or Barah Bigha, ground in Janakpur during Vivah Panchami week, and a 2018 feature calls Rangbhumi “the ground where Ram broke the bow”.

Where the broken bow fell is told in three versions. An airline destination page reports that one-third of the bow landed in the Dhanush Sagar pond opposite the Ram Mandir. The Film Development Board says a fragment fell at Dhanushadham, 16 km (10 miles) north-east. The same airline page reports that the Dhanushadham piece “entered the netherworld” and is slowly rising from the earth.

In Mithila tradition the bow test proves Rama’s divine identity, and Mithila remembers Rama as its pahun, son-in-law. Janakpur leaders call Rama “our son-in-law” and Sita “our daughter”.

Tradition places the flower garden where Rama and Sita first saw each other at Girija Sthan, Phulhar, in India, a stop on the Mithila parikrama, according to one business news portal. The meeting is re-enacted as the Phulwari Leela in Vivah Panchami week.

Vivah Mandap, beside the Janaki Mandir, is the popular site of the wedding of Rama and Sita. Vivah Mandap, also written Bibah or Vivaha Mandap, has shrines for the four couples: Rama and Sita, Bharata and Mandavi, Lakshmana and Urmila, Shatrughna and Shrutakirti. Local guides and villagers say that Mani Mandap in Rani Bazaar, about 4.5 km (2.8 miles) away, is the true wedding site. There two ponds are shown as the places where Rama washed his feet before the rite and washed sindoor from his hands after it.

The same business portal records the tradition that soil for Sita’s wedding rites was collected at Matihani in Mahottari. One Nepali report describes the Matkor rite in Janakpur, in which women dig clay from Ganga Sagar with songs. An artists’ profile records the legend that King Janaka asked his subjects to paint their homes for Sita’s wedding.

Janakpur’s Shakta (goddess) shrines include the Rajdevi temples, held by tradition to be the goddess of Janaka’s family, and Baudhi Mai, described as a “sister” of Rajdevi Mai. Four guardian Shiva temples mark the city’s cardinal points: Mithileshwar to the east, Jaleshwar to the west, Chhireshwar to the north and Kalyaneshwar to the south. The municipal catalogue also lists Kshireshwor, Kapileshwor Nath, Kupeshwor Nath at Kuwa and Jaleshwor Nath.

Janaka’s court is associated with the Upanishadic figures Yajnavalkya, Gargi and Maitreyi. The municipal catalogue lists a Gyan Kup Kuti, and the new protected-zone boundary passes Gyan Kupa and a Yagyavalkya Sanskrit school.

Surkishore Das’s date varies: the late 17th century in one report, 1657 in another, and arrival from “Lohagarh” in VS 1417 in a third.

Janakpur sits within several wider networks:

• The Mithila Madhya Parikrama, a circuit of 15 halts, 13 in Nepal and 2 in India.
• The four guardian Shiva temples.
• The Ram Barat, the wedding party that comes from Ayodhya.
• The pilgrim bus between Punaura Dham and Janakpur.
• India’s Ramayana Circuit, linked to Janakpur by the 2018 bus launch, with 15 Indian sites named.

The 15-day Mithila Madhya Parikrama is said to commemorate the 14 years of exile, and Rama and Sita are believed to have played Holi during the parikrama. On day 7, the palanquins of the deities “play Holi” at Kanchanban, in Bhangaha-7, Mahottari.

The ponds of Janakpur drew pilgrims before any monumental building. The municipal Heritage Catalogue lists Agni Kunda, Angraj Sar, Bidal Sar, Bihar Kunda, Bishara Sar, Dhanush Sagar, Dhurva Kunda, Ganga Sagar, Jalaid Nadi, Maharaj Sagar, Pap Mochani Sar, Parashuram Lake, Ratna Sagar and Sita Kund. The count of ponds varies: 72 in two sources, about 90 in another, and 115 according to the Nepal Tourism Board.

UNESCO notes potential archaeological areas at Janakpur not yet excavated. A 2016 excavation at Bawan Bigha (52 Bigha) yielded pottery and structural remains, and the researchers did not claim it proved an epic-period city. In 2018 the Department of Archaeology said it held essentially no records on the founding of the Janaki Mandir, and planned an expert committee whose report alone would be accepted as the record.

Richard Burghart’s 1978 study reconstructs how Janakpur “reappeared” and how the modern town of Janakpurdham was founded in the early 18th century.

King Manik Sen of Makwanpur granted 1,400 bigha to the Janaki Mandir, and the grant survives as a document dated 1784, according to a 2018 feature. Another report places Manik Sen’s involvement in 1727, in the time of the second Mahant, Prayag Das. General Amar Singh Thapa built the Ram Mandir, in 1782 according to one guidebook and in the late 1700s according to another source. An earlier Ram temple was built by Chaturbhuj Giri.

Queen Vrisha Bhanu of Tikamgarh built the present Janaki Mandir, with its foundation in VS 1952 and completion in VS 1967, about 1895 to 1910, according to the signboard at the temple. The temple’s centenary was celebrated in VS 2051 (1994 to 1995). Other dates circulate: 1874, 1898, 1910 and 1911. The Film Development Board prints the years 1952 and 1967 without marking them as Vikram Samvat years, which may explain some of the confusion.

The Janakpur to Jaynagar narrow-gauge railway was built in 1937 under the Rana prime minister Juddha Shumsher and carried passengers until January 2014. In VS 1996 (1939) a government trust office issued a lagata, a land record, listing “45 bighas and odd” of trust land belonging to Ratna Sagar Math for its upkeep and rituals.

Most sources date the founding of the Janakpur Women’s Development Center in Kuwa to 1989, and others give 1991 or 1992. A flood in 2001 swept away the Bighi bridge at Loharpatti and closed the Janakpur to Bijalpura rail section. In 2005 the Janaki Mandir invited a wedding procession, the Ram Barat, from Ayodhya for the first time, according to data attributed to the Janakpur tourism office.

The Department of Archaeology submitted the Ram Janaki Temple to UNESCO’s Tentative List on 30 January 2008. On 20 December 2011 India’s Ambassador, Jayant Prasad, inaugurated “the newly constructed Cultural Museum at Janaki Mandir Complex”, built with NPR 3 crore (30 million) of Indian aid. In 2014 the Janakpur non-profit BHORE ran a petition for World Heritage listing. The 2015 earthquake caused only minor damage to the temple.

On 11 May 2018 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Janaki Mandir and launched the Janakpur to Ayodhya bus on the Ramayana Circuit, and the bus was received in Ayodhya by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A Kathmandu to Janakpur tourist bus was launched in November 2018. In February 2019 UNESCO’s Christian Manhart and Department of Archaeology officials visited Janakpur about World Heritage preparation.

Cross-border passenger trains resumed on broad gauge between Jaynagar and Kurtha in April 2022 and were later extended to Bhangaha and Bijalpura. In January 2024 Janakpur sent wedding-style gifts to Ayodhya for the Ram temple consecration and planned 125,000 lamps at the Janaki Mandir on 22 January. On 18 November 2024 a party from Janakpur held the first-ever Tilakotsav in Ayodhya, with 251 tilak-hars bringing 501 kinds of offerings.

UNESCO’s first workshop on a management framework for the Ram Janaki Temple Complex was scheduled for early December 2025. The government’s declaration of the Janaki Temple area as a protected monument zone was reported on 18 September 2026, and the FY 2026/27 national budget includes the aim of World Heritage listing.

Access to Janakpur has moved from the 1937 narrow-gauge railway to air and road links with Kathmandu and the broad-gauge line to Jaynagar in India. The narrow-gauge service ended in January 2014, and broad-gauge trains resumed in April 2022. Nepal does not allow third-country nationals to travel to India on the line, a restriction reported in November 2021. Routes, documents and the best time to go are under “Planning a visit to Janakpur”.

Sources label the style differently: Mughal and local, classical and neo-classical with fortification, Rajput and Mughal, and “baroque Mughal”. The historian Namo Narayan Jha identifies Mithila fish motifs and Rajasthani, Rajput and Gujarati elements in the decoration. Jha also holds that the building was first conceived as a palace, a love-gift between Queen Vrisha Bhanu and King Pratap Singh, built by a Muslim master-craftsman from Rajasthan, and only later became a temple. That is a contested individual view.

The floor area of the Janaki Mandir is given as 49,555 sq ft, 4,860 sq ft and about 1,500 m² (about 16,000 sq ft). The figures may measure the site and the building footprint differently. A signboard at the front of the temple gives VS 1952 for the foundation and VS 1967 for completion.

In 2018 the temple was reported to have been repainted without archaeological advice. Most of its 60 rooms had blackened walls, and modern rest rooms built outside were criticised for marring the old form.

The principal image of the Janaki Mandir is Sita, flower-decked, with Rama and his brothers. A government source lists images of Vashishtha, Satananda, Sunaina, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, Sita and Janaka in the temple. Whether the image is self-manifest or consecrated turns on the two discovery stories: found on the spot in 1657, or brought from near Ayodhya.

The Cultural Museum lies behind the sanctum, with tableaux from the Haleshwari yagya, the sacrifice at which Sita was found, to the wedding, and old jewellery and costumes on the ground floor. One visitor describes first-floor dioramas, a badhai geet (birth song) playing at the scene of Sita’s birth, and Sita’s dresses and jewellery.

Vivah Mandap is a pagoda-style pavilion in the south-west corner of the Janaki Mandir complex, reached from the temple’s west side along two rows of Ashoka trees, with mini-temples for the four couples around it. The Ram Mandir, a tiered pagoda in a stone courtyard south-east of the Janaki Mandir, is described by a guidebook as the oldest temple in the city.

From the Janaki Mandir at the centre, the Vivah Mandap lies in the south-west corner of the complex along the Ashoka-tree avenue. The Ram Mandir is about 5 to 10 minutes’ walk to the south-east, with Dhanush Sagar opposite it. Dhanush Sagar and Ganga Sagar, east of the temple, are linked by a channel. The four guardian Shiva temples stand at the cardinal points, and the Antargriha Parikrama path encircles the whole core.

The boundaries of the protected monument zone, whose declaration was reported on 18 September 2026, follow the Antargriha Parikrama path on all four sides.

Building standards now apply inside the zone. Under the Ancient Monument Preservation Act, a notice with the boundaries is displayed, objections may be lodged within 35 days, and a Gazette notification then fixes the area.

Tradition treats several places beyond the city as one pilgrimage with Janakpur.

One booking listing gives opening hours of 5:30 to 11:00 am and 4:00 to 8:30 pm, and times may change with the season. Crowds are greatest at Vivah Panchami, Ram Navami and Dashain. A guidebook recommends the early evening, when the Janaki Mandir is lit and crowds arrive.

Flowers, akshata (rice) and incense are the usual offerings at the Janaki Mandir, sold by vendors around the ponds. One travel site says that bathing at the Dhanush Sagar ghat before visiting the temple is considered sacred, and an airline destination page reports the local belief that a dip in Ganga Sagar equals a dip in the Ganges.

Pilgrims circle the courtyard of the Janaki Mandir. The city-scale Antargriha Parikrama, the “five kos” inner circuit, is walked on Falgun Purnima and closes the 15-day Mithila Madhya Parikrama. Completing the one-day Antargriha Parikrama is believed to earn the merit of the full 15-day circuit for those who cannot walk it.

The Janaki Mandir is headed by a Mahant of the Vaishnav lineage, Mahant Ram Tapeshwar Das Vaishnav. Ram Roshan Das Vaishnav was named designated successor in 2020 and was still so described in December 2025, and a January 2024 report calls him “Mahantha”. The temple’s annual calendar follows Mithila rites “from birth to death”.

Vaishnava pilgrims to Janakpur focus on the temples, Vivah Mandap and the Dhanush and Ganga Sagar ponds. Shakta devotion peaks at Durga Puja at the Rajdevi and Baudhi Mai temples, and Shaiva pilgrims visit the guardian Shiva temples such as Jaleshwar.

An indefinite curfew was imposed over all of Janakpurdham and nearby areas at 3:30 pm on 30 July 2026, after communal unrest spread from Sunsari. The curfew area included Mani Mandap and the ISKCON Janakpur area, protesters lit a fire at Ramananda Chowk, and three people died across four districts. Trains were suspended from 31 July, and the curfew was lifted at 10:00 am on 1 August 2026.

• 4 March 2026: Holi coincided with the national election, and the local administration urged people to celebrate at home.
• 3 October 2025: a prohibitory order was imposed in ward 20 (Devpura-Rupaitha) after a clash during a Durga idol procession to Telia pond.
• 13 November 2021: a clash led to a prohibitory order in the same ward.
• Madhesh movement: police shot dead two protesters in Janakpur during protests by the United Democratic Madhesi Front, in a report whose date is not visible.

• 25 September 2026: the Roshi River crossed its danger level on the BP Highway corridor.
• 21 April 2026: Janakpur recorded 38 °C.
• June 2025: schools in Janakpurdham closed for two days during a heatwave.
• January 2023: cold waves killed five people in Madhesh within three weeks.
• 2001: a flood destroyed the Bighi rail bridge and closed the Bijalpura section.

Fog has disrupted Janakpur Airport since at least the 2000s. Passenger traffic at the airport fell 6% in FY 2025/26, with haze-related cancellations.

• 2015: the earthquake caused only minor damage to the Janaki Mandir.
• 21 August 1988: the Udayapur earthquake, at 4:55 am local time, caused damage across eastern Nepal and north Bihar.
• 15 January 1934: the Bihar and Nepal earthquake caused severe shaking in eastern Nepal. Its epicentre was long mislocated about 200 km too far south.

A viral claim in May 2023 that UNESCO had inscribed the Janaki Mandir was false. The birthplace rivalry with Sitamarhi continues, with the Punaura Dham temple under construction since August 2025.

In 2018 the ponds of Janakpur were reported to be receiving sewage and suffering encroachment, with some used by pigs and buffalo, and the Barah Bigha ground was neglected. In 2019 Mani Mandap’s sindoor pond held green, murky water. Water shortages and drought were reported in 2025 and 2026.

In June 2026 daily maxima in the Terai averaged above 33 °C, parts of Madhesh were above 36 °C, and the monsoon covered Madhesh by 22 June. Mid-August at Janakpur is hot and humid, around 35 °C. One undated report recorded 38.8 °C in one summer and 42 °C the year before.

Mithila painting is traditionally a women’s mural art on mud walls, with elephants and peacocks painted for prosperity at weddings and festivals. Walls are re-plastered at Jur Sital, the Maithili new year. In Janakpur the art moved from walls to paper in 1989, and early artists of the Janakpur Women’s Development Center included Baachi Devi, Manjula Thakur and Palati Devi. Murals now decorate the airport and the railway station hall.

Mithila wedding songs tease Rama as son-in-law, and “Sitaram” bhajans are sung in the courtyard of the Janaki Mandir.

The Janaki Mandir has invited the Ram Barat from Ayodhya since 2005. Janakpur sent gifts to Ayodhya in January 2024, and Janakpur leaders describe “roti-beti”, bread-and-daughter, ties between the two cities. PTI counted more than 3,000 gifts, and IANS more than 500 baskets.

Vaishnav Mahants run the Janaki Mandir, youth clubs run some Shakta shrines at festivals, and the municipality lists Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist festivals. Communal tensions have flared around Durga idol processions in 2021 and 2025, and in the regional unrest of July 2026.

Of 68,137 visitors registered in Janakpur hotels in FY 2018/19, 67,171 were Indian, and day-trippers were not counted. In the first half of FY 2025/26, Janakpur had more than 20,000 international visitors, 90.69% of them Indian.

Janakpur is in Nepal, in Dhanusha District of Madhesh Province, near the Bihar border. The nearest border crossings to India are Jatahi, about 11 km away, and Bhittamod, about 19 km.

Janakpur tradition holds that the Janaki Mandir stands where Sita was found, and UNESCO’s Tentative List text calls it her birthplace “according to Vedic literature”. Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi, Bihar, makes a rival claim. Other sources describe Janakpur as the place where Sita was raised and married.

The Janaki Mandir in Janakpur is called Nau Lakha Mandir because it is said to have cost nine lakh (900,000) rupees. According to the temple signboard, the present marble temple was begun in VS 1952 and completed in VS 1967, about 1895 to 1910.

Queen Vrisha Bhanu of Tikamgarh built the Janaki Mandir, with its foundation in VS 1952 and completion in VS 1967, about 1895 to 1910, according to the temple signboard. Other sources give 1874, 1898, 1910 or 1911.

No. The Janaki Mandir has been on UNESCO’s Tentative List since 30 January 2008 and is not a World Heritage Site. A viral claim in 2023 that it had been inscribed was false. Nepal’s declaration of a protected monument zone around it was reported on 18 September 2026.

Popular belief places the wedding of Rama and Sita at the Vivah Mandap beside the Janaki Mandir in Janakpur. Local tradition holds that Mani Mandap in Rani Bazaar, about 4.5 km away, is the true site.

You can fly from Kathmandu to Janakpur in about 25 minutes, or drive about 210 km on the BP Highway in about 6 hours by car. Microbuses take about 8 hours and overnight buses about 13 hours.

Yes. Janakpur Airport is about 2.5 km from the Janaki Mandir, with flights from Kathmandu of about 25 minutes. Winter fog cancels flights on some days.

Trains run on the Jaynagar to Janakpur line for Indian and Nepali citizens. The service was suspended from 31 July 2026, and no reopening notice was found as of 25 September 2026.

No. Third-country nationals are not allowed to cross between India and Nepal on the Jaynagar to Janakpur line. Foreigners entering overland from India must use a designated point such as Birgunj or Biratnagar, since none is near Janakpur.

No. Indian citizens can enter Nepal for Janakpur with a passport or an Election Commission voter ID, but Aadhaar is not accepted. By air, only a passport or an original voter ID is accepted.

Yes. Since July 2026 Indian and Nepali nationals may carry post-2016 ₹200 and ₹500 notes into Nepal up to ₹25,000 per person. ₹2,000 notes remain banned.

The Janaki Mandir holds its morning aarti at about 7:00 am and its evening aarti from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. The sanctum is closed from about 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm, according to reports from 2018 and 2024, and one booking listing gives opening hours of 5:30 to 11:00 am and 4:00 to 8:30 pm, so check on arrival.

No entry fee for the Janaki Mandir was found as of September 2026. A guidebook of unknown date gives the museum fee as NPR 15.

Vivah Panchami 2026 in Janakpur falls on Monday 14 December 2026, according to the official panchang. The estimated dates for the next two years are 3 December 2027 and 21 November 2028.

Vivah Panchami week in Janakpur runs through Nagar Darshan, the Phulwari Leela, the Dhanush Yagya, Tilakotsav, Matkor and the wedding, and the Ram Barat comes from Ayodhya. The festival draws lakhs of Indian visitors, and a local hotel’s guide says hotel capacity that week is limited.

The Mithila Madhya Parikrama is a 15-day walk of 133 km from Kachuri, with 15 halts, 13 in Nepal and 2 in India, ending with the Antargriha circuit of Janakpur on Falgun Purnima. In 2026 it ran from 17 February to 3 March.

Janakpur plays Holi the day after the 15-day parikrama ends, and in 2026 that was 4 March. The official Terai Holi in 2027 is Monday 22 March.

No rule barring non-Hindus from the Janaki Mandir premises was found, and a 2026 guide says Vivah Panchami is open to visitors of all backgrounds. Rules for the sanctum itself were not found.

Remove your shoes at the shrines of Janakpur. Women pilgrims often wear their best saris. Official rules on dress, leather and photography at the Janaki Mandir were not found.

No. Janakpur lies on the flat Terai plain, so altitude is not a concern. The main health risks are heat from April to June and cold waves and fog in December and January.

Janakpur had 46 hotels and lodges with 1,380 beds in FY 2018/19, and booking sites averaged about US$21 to 62 a night in September 2026. Dharmashalas such as the Gopal Dharmashala also take guests.

Chhath in Janakpur falls on Sunday 15 November 2026, according to the official panchang. Offerings are made at sunset and sunrise at the city’s ponds.

The Antargriha Parikrama is the “five kos” inner circuit of Janakpur, walked on Falgun Purnima to close the 15-day Mithila Madhya Parikrama. Its length is given as about 8 km or about 16 km, and completing it is believed to earn the merit of the full 15-day circuit.

The best months to visit Janakpur are mid-September to mid-December and mid-February to mid-April. April to June is very hot, and fog can cancel flights in December and January.

Indian groups typically spend 3 to 4 hours at the main temples of Janakpur. Two nights covers the city, Mani Mandap, Dhanushadham and Jaleshwar.

Janakpur is generally safe to visit, but it has had occasional curfews and prohibitory orders during unrest, the latest from 30 July to 1 August 2026 and earlier in October 2025. Mani Mandap is in an isolated area and is best visited by day with a driver, and it is wise to check the news before you go.

Dhanushadham is a temple 16 to 18 km north-east of Janakpur, believed to hold a fragment of Shiva’s bow. It holds a month-long Makar Mela from Maghe Sankranti, which begins on 15 January 2027.

Janakpur is about 500 km from Ayodhya and about 40 km from Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi. A daily bus links Punaura Dham and Janakpur.

You can buy Mithila paintings at the Janakpur Women’s Development Center in Kuwa, where it is best to call ahead. Paintings, saris and Mithila bedsheets are also sold in the city.