Tourist Attractions in Chitrakoot

Chitrakoot, a celebrated place of pilgrimage, is one of the popular tourist destinations in Uttar Pradesh. It is home to several religious tourist attractions. Among the places to visit in Chitrakoot are temples, ghats, hills, caves, akharas, ashramas etc. The hill which is the object of pilgrimage, is known as Kamta Nath or Kamadgiri, and the name Chitrakoot is applied to the hill, the ‘parikrama’ and the locality generally. The hill is about two and a half km in circumference. The name Kamta Nath is the same as Kamda Nath meaning the “lordly granter of desires”, and the hill is said to have attained its great sanctity in the Tretayug, when Ram, Sita and Lakshman lived here during their exile. Its praises have been sung by sages like Valmiki and Tulsidas and many later poets. The name Chitrakoot is derived from two words – ‘Chitra’ means ‘of various colors’ and ‘Koot’ means ‘a hill’. Conspicuously, a large number of colored stones are found on the hills. Round the base of the hill is a terrace, on which pilgrims perform the ‘parikarma’. It is said to have been erected about 1725 A.D. by Rani Chandra Kunwar, the queen of Chhatra Sal, the great Bundela leader. To the south of the Kamta Nath is the Lakshman Pahari, named after Lakshman, the younger brother of Rama. It is said that from this hillock Lakshman used to watch over Ram’s hut on the Kamta Nath hill. There is a temple on the top of the hill constructed in the memory of Lakshman. The Payaswini river flows at a distance of about a kilometer from the base of the hill to the east and there are thirty-three places of worship dedicated to various deities, situated in the low surrounding hills, on the river banks, and in the valley and plains at the foot of the hills, all of which are connected with the various ceremonies of pilgrimage performed at Chitrakoot.