Travel diaries ( Chitrakoot Uttar Pradesh)

Bit history about Chitrakoot

Chitrakoot’s spiritual legacy stretches back to legendary ages: It was in these deep forests that Ram, Sita and his brother Lakshman spent a few months of their fourteen years of exile; the great sage Atri, Sati Anusuya, Dattatreya, Maharshi Markandeya, Valmiki and various other sages, seers, devotees and thinkers meditated; and here the principal trinity of the Hindu pantheon, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, took their  is said that all the gods and goddesses came to Chitrakoot when Rama performed the Shraddha ceremony of his father to partake of the shuddhi (i.e. a feast given to all the relatives and friends on the thirteenth day of the death in the family). The first known mention of the place is in the Valmiki Ramayan, which is believed to be the first ever Mahakavya composed by the first ever poet. As Valmiki is said to be contemporaneous with (or even earlier than) Ram and is believed to have composed the Ramayan before the birth of Ram, the antiquity of its fame can well be gauged.Valmiki speaks of Chitrakoot as an eminently holy place inhabited by the great sages, abounding in monkeys, bears and various other kinds of fauna and flora. Both the sages Bharadwaj and Valmiki speak of Chitrakoot in glowing terms and advise Ram to make it his abode during the period of his exile. Lord Ram himself admits this bewitching impact of this place. In the 'Ramopakhyan' and descriptions of teerths at various places in the Mahabharat, Chitrakoot finds a favoured place. In 'Adhyatma Ramayan' and 'Brihat Ramayan' testify to the throbbing spiritually and natural beauty of Chitrakuta. Various Sanskrit and Hindi poets also have paid similar tributes to Chitrakuta. Mahakavi Kalidas has described this place beautifully in his epic 'Raghuvansh'. He was so much impressed with its charms that he made Chitrakuta (which he calls Ramgiri because of its time-honoured associations with lord Ram) the place of exile of his yaksha in Meghdoot.Tulsidas, the saint-poet of Hindi has spoken very reverently of this place in all his major works-Ramcharit Manas, Kavitawali, Dohawali and Vinaya Patrika. The last-mentioned work contains many verses which show a deep personal bond between Tulsidas and Chitrakoot. He spent quite some part of his life here worshipping Ram and craving his darshan. It was here that he had what he must have considered the crowning moment of his achievements—i.e. the darshan of his beloved deity Lord Ram at the intercession of Hanumanji. His eminent friend, the noted Hindi poet Rahim (i.e. Abdur Rahim Khankhana, the soldier-statesmen-saint-scholar-poet who was among the Nav-Ratnas of Akbar) also spent some time here, when he had fallen from favour with Akbar's son Emperor Jahangir

Packing for the Travel

So the most important of travelling is to pack and pack for nesseary . Because people hate carrying lots of luggage or heavy luggage . So how to pack smartly .

• Keep all the daily nessety
• Pack ol you summer clothes (if its summer)
• A blanket

Weather

Weather at Chitrakoot is a continental type

In summer its quite hot in the day and in the night the weather changes and decrease quite low

In winters its bit warm u dont feel too cold but dnt forget to pack sweater because its not that warm that you could go around without a sweater.

So pack according while you go just the forecast

Transportation

• Road: Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) falls on National Highway 76 (NH 76) stretched from Pindwara to Allahabad via Udaipur, Chittaurgarh, Kota, Shivpuri, Jhansi and Banda. City is also linked with roadways to all adjoining districts of Banda, Allahabad, Satna, Rewa and Kaushambi. National highways are really in bad condition.
• Railways: Chitakoot Dham (Karwi) is an railway station ( IRCTC code: CKTD) on Manikpur - Jhansi/Kanpur main line, served by the North-Central division of Indian Railways. Karwi is connected by trains to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhopal, Raipur, Jabalpur, Kanpur, Khajuraho, Lucknow, Durg and Varanasi.
• Air: Allahabad is the nearest operational airport to the city which is 120 km away. Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) also have an airstrip at Dewangana.

Hotels

As Chitrakoot is a tourist places so theirs are hell lot of places which are present near the temples and is their in the entire city

The basic price of some cheap hotel (but good hotels ) are.

• Ac rooms: Rs 800–1000 for 3/4 bed occupancy with bathroom attached
• Non ac rooms(cooler's) : Rs 500–600 for 3/4 bed occupancy with bathroom attached

Some of my recommendation of hotels will be

• Panchwati : near arogyadham
• Jaipuriya guest house :near ramghat
• Kamadgiri Bhawan

Restaurant

Chitrakoot doesn't have a many good places to eat . You cant go anywhere and eat. So im giving some places names which you could go and eat food and your would love it

• Panchwati :near arogyadham . Panchwati has some of the nicest eating place and the food is fabelous and its even light to the pocket . The thali in panchwati cost rs 80 (dinner /lunch ) and rs 50 for breakfast
• Hotel ashoka : near ramghat . Food at hotel ashoka is affordable and quite good its one of the places which is open even quite late at night . Cost of 1 thali is Rs 120
• Anupurna bhognalay : near ramghat. Food at anupurna is tasty and its also affordable .
• Kamadgiri Bhawan:near ramghat food at this place is az good az panchwati and this place is also open quite late in the night

Tourist spots

• Ramghat: This is a main ghat in Chitrakoot. Do boating here. you should pay around 100–150 rs for a one-hour personal shikara (Big Boat) booking. Many of them have pet rabbits on the boats and playing with them would be really fun for the kids. Tulsidas status is there on the ghat. Bharat Milap temple is also there on this ghat. you can cover this in around 2 hours. Daily arati happens at 6PM in the evening and you should find some time to secure a place to attend the arati. This is a central place in Chitrakoot and related distance to other main attraction are listed below.
• Kamadgiri Parikrama: This is around 5 km parikrama. This can be completed in approx 2 hours. Beware of notorious monkeys on the parikrama, they snatch any polythin from your hand or spectacles. You can put on shoes on the parikrama marg. This place is 1.5 km far from Ramghat.
• Hanuman Dhara: This is a hill where there are 3 main spots. Trimukhi Hanuman mandir, Panchmukhi hanuman mandir (Main) and Seeta Rasoi at the top. There is a continuous stream of water that falls on hanuman idol and the source of water is not known. Buy grams of "Chana" and feed langurs here. Langurs are very calm and will hold your hand and eat every chana one by one. This was real fun for the kids. People return after seeing panchmukhi hanuman mandir and do not go to Sita Rasoi. Sita Rasoi is not in good condition and is just an old room where Sitaji cooked food during ram vanvas. frustrating to visit sita rasoi, since there are around 20–25 small temples and every pandit will ask your name and do tilak for your best wishes. There are two ways so take one way to go up and come back using other. This place is around 3 km away from Ramghat.
• Gupt Godavari Caves: There are around 3 caves. Water streams flow through these caves. you could see few crabs in the water but don't worry they do not and never harmed pilgrims. In one cave water flows over stones and it is not convenient to walk over such short stones, so be prepared as per your physical fitness/weight. This place is around 20 km from Ramghat.
• Sphatic Shila: This is a stone where Lord Ram used to rest. This stone gives a velvet kind of feeling. This place is around 4 km from Ramghat.
• Janki Kund: there is a hospital there now and this place is not open to visitors.
• Sati Anusuiya Ashram: This is an ashram on the bank of river. This place is around 7 km away from Ramghat, on the way to gupt godavari caves (3 km off route).

Pictures of some places at Chitrakoot