Janaki Mandir as the name suggest is devoted to the deity Sita or Janaki, daughter of King Janak of Videha and wife of Lord Ram. The Temple is located in Janakpur which is located in the Terai, alluvial, forested and marshy terrain at the base of the Himalaya mountain range. The major rivers surrounding Janakpur are Dudhmati, Jalad, Rato, Balan and Kamala. Janakpur is famous for its temples and the numerous ponds which carry significant religious importance. Mithilanchal is the place where ancient Maithili culture originated. It has the birthplace of the Chhath festival and the Maithili language and script.

The most important historical reference to Janakpur is in the Hindu epic Ramayana, where Rama’s wife Sita Devi (also called Janaki in Nepal) is said to have been the Nepali princess of Videha. Her father, King Janak of Videha, found baby Sita in a furrow of a field on a visit to Siraha and raised her as his daughter. When she grew up, the king announced that she should be wed by whoever was able to string the divine bow of Shiva. Though many royal suitors tried, Rama, prince of Ayodhya, alone could even lift the bow. As Rama and Sita are major figures in Hinduism, Janakpur is an important Nepalese pilgrimage site for Hindus all over the world.

Janaki temple is one of the most beautiful and biggest temple in Nepal. It was built in 1898 by Brisabhanu Kunwar of Tikamgarh. It is said that in 1657 , Sannyasi Shurkishordas, the great poet and saint discovered a golden statue of the Goddess Sita at the exact place where she was borne.There the current janaki mandir was constructed.Architecturally the Janaki temple is unique in Nepal. Its inner sanctum contains a flower-bedecked statue of Sita that was apparently miraculously found in the Saryu River near Ayodhya. Statues of Rama and his half-brothers Lakshman, Bharat and Satrughna stand by Sita. Early evenings are the best times to visit, for then the temple is lit with colorful lights and filled with hundreds of pilgrims expressing devotion for Sita and Rama. Adjacent to the Janaki Mandir is the Rama Sita Bibaha Mandir, a building that marks the place where Rama and Sita were married. Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Janakpur to pay homage to Sita at the time of Vivah Panchami, the marriage day of Sita and Ram

Janakpur being the birth place of Goddess Sita is very important religious place for the Hidus all over the world and at the heart of Janakpur lies the marble Janaki Mandir, one of the finest pieces of architecture in Nepal. Built in extravagant baroque Mughal style that leaves it looking like a palace made of sweets, the Janaki Mandir is Janakpur’s most important temple which is dedicated to Sita, the wife of Rama and heroine of the Hindu religious epic Ramayana.

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