Today on 1st November 2021, at 6AM we went to Chitrakoot from Highvill Home Stay, Khajuraho. Distance between Khajuraho to Chitrakoot is @ 160 kms. On the way we had tea breakfast and reached Chitrakoot at 10.15 AM. Chitrakoot is a famous pilgrimage centre in Satna district in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as well. It is known for a number of temples and holy sites. It was in these deep forests that Lord Ram, Goddess Sita and Laxman spent eleven years of their fourteen years of exile. Great sages like Atri, Sati Anusuya, Dattatreya, Maharshi Markendey and Valmiki, many devotees and thinkers meditated here and the principal trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh visited this place. Due to such importance of this place we planned a day visit to Chitrakoot.
We parked our car at a safe place and decided a auto who will take us all main places in chitrakoot at Rs.600/-.
Autowala first took us to Kamadgiri temple. It is very ancient temple with lots of history. This temple is famous among local people. The devotees perform circumambulation (about 5 km) around the whole hill, which is considered very sacred. It takes @ 2 hours. As we have to return to khajuraho in the evening, we only took darshan of Kamatanath ji and went to Sati Anusuya Ashram. On the way there are so many monkeys roaming on the road. Sati Anusuya Ashram is 17 kms from Ramghat. We reached after half an hour, on the way took darshan of Lete Hanumanji, then went to Sati Anusuya Ashram. Sati Anusuya Ashram is holy place, famous tourist attraction in Chitrakoot near the origin of Mandakini river. The place is very calm and environment is pleasant. It has residential school (Gurukul). Camera is not allowed inside the Ashram. Stories of Sati Anusuya and Sage Atri as well as story of Trinity, who tests Sati and stories of Ramayana are depicted in the ashram in form of statues. After visiting Ashram we went to Gupt Godawari, located at a distance of about 18 km from the district of Chitrakoot, this place is held in the highest respect by devotees. It is said that Lord Rama, Lord Laxmana and goddess Sita stayed for some time during their exile. There are two caves inside the mountain, while the water inside them is filled up to the knees. One of these caves is very high and wide, along with a narrow entrance which makes it quite difficult for anyone to pass through. The other cave is very long and narrow. A stream of water keeps flowing continuously from rocks deep inside the cave. These then flow towards another cave before disappearing into the ground. This strange phenomenon led this place being named as Gupt Godavari. In the caves there are two stone carved thrones. These are believed to belong to Lord Rama and Lord Laxman. There is Panchmukhi Shivling on the exit way. We felt very blessed after visiting these places. Then we had a riceplate outside the temple. Then autowala took us to Sphatik Shila. Sphatik Shila situated on the banks of River Mandakini, is one of the holy places in Chitrakoot. Sphatik Shila is in fact two enormous boulders which are believed to contain the footprints of Lord Rama and Goddess Sita. As a tourist, this place is great if you are looking for a place to relax but now a days it seems to be little bit commercialized. Besides containing their footprints, it is believed that Ram and Sita always used to sit here and enjoyed the beauty of Chitrakoot. The beauty of the jungle enveloping the river lends it a serene appearance which is visual treat for visitors. We sat only for 5 minutes at this holy place, bowed our head and went for Janki Mandir. Janki Mandir is a very small temple. We took darshan and headed to Ramghat. Ramghat is a most visited religious, awesome place which lining river Mandakini in Chitrakoot in U.P. Ramghat is a place where Lord Ram, Goddess Sita and Lord Laxman interacted with Saint Goswami Tulsidas. The evening aarti here is beautiful. We offered our sincere thanks and Pranam to Lord Ram and River Mandakini. There are colourful boats. You can go for boating and enjoy the beauty of this place till the evening and then attend the Aarti with beautiful diya lightings, sounds of bells and holy chants. A 2 days time is perfect to explore all the places in Chitrakoot. We missed few places due to lack of time. There are more places like Bharat Milap Temple, Hanuman Dhara, Bharat Koop, Janki Kund, Ganesh baug, Sita ki Rasoi etc. We covered 5 places in 5 hours, at 3.30 PM autowala dropped us at the place where we parked our car and we headed again to Khajuraho and reached by 7.30 PM.
