Maa Janaki Janmbhoomi Mandir or Punaura Dham is a proposed temple of the Hindu goddess

Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

Mithila Mithila may refer to: Places * Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state ** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha * Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepa ...

at a site at the

Punaura Dham Punaura Dham, entailing Janaki Janmasthali Mandir (lit. ''Janaki Birthplace Temple''), revered as the birth place of Mother goddess, Mata Sita, the consort of Lord Rama, in Punaura village 5 km southwest of Sitamarhi city of Sitamarhi district in ...

in Sitamarhi district, Bihar, India. In Hinduism the site is considered the place where Sita was found closed in a box from a farm field while the King

Janaka Janaka (, IAST: ''Janaka'') is the King of Videha who ruled from Mithila (region), Mithila, in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Janaka was married to Sunayana (Ramayana), Sunayana. He is the father of Sita and Urmila in the epic. The term Janaka ...

was ploughing the farm field. Ramayana Research Council has also proposed the construction of the Tallest Statue of Mata Sita at ''Raghopur Bakhri'' village in the

Sitamarhi district Sitamarhi is one of the districts in the Indian state of Bihar. Dumra is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district is a part of the Tirhut Division and is located along the border of Nepal. It is the part of the Mithila re ...

, which is near the proposed site at Punauradham. There is a plan to build Janaki Dham in Sitamarhi on the lines of

Ram Mandir The Ram Mandir (ISO 15919, ISO: , ), also known as Shri Ramlalla Mandir, is a partially constructed Hindu temple, Hindu temple complex in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India. Many Hindus believe that it is located at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi, t ...

in Ayodhya. A campus known as Janaki Dham would be built on 57 acres of land near Punauradham. The foundation stone of the ''Janaki Janmasthali Mandir'' was laid by

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

, the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

on 13 December 2023 at Punauradham. In 2025 the union home minister Amit Shah said that after the construction of Ram Mandir he is focusing on the construction of the proposed Mata Sita Mandir.

History

Punaura is in the

region, also called the ''Tirhut'' or ''Tirabhukti'', with history dating back to the

Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...

(1500-500 BCE) when it was one of the 16

Mahajanapadas The Mahājanapadas were sixteen Realm, kingdoms and aristocracy, aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the History of India#Second urbanisation (c. 600 – 200 BCE), second urbanis ...

of India, covers surrounding areas of Bihar and Nepal. According to

Valmiki Valmiki (; , ) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic ''Ramayana'', based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as ''Ādi Kavi'', the first poet, author of ''Ramayana'', the first epic poe ...

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, once there was a severe famine in

and the priest there advised the King of

Videha Videha ( Prākrit: ; Pāli: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern Indian subcontinent whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The population of Videha, the Vaidehas, were initially organised into a monarchy ...

, to plow the field. When King Janak was ploughing, an earthen pot came out of the ground, in which Mother Sita was in an infant state. The Punaura Dham is believed to be the spot where that earthen pot came out, hence revered as the birthplace of Sita. Since she came out of a furrow when King Janaka was ploughing the land, he adopted her as his daughter and named her Sita, which means “furrow” in Sanskrit and he also gave her the name Janaki, meaning ''daughter of Janaka''.Bihar's Punaura Dham
drishtiias.com, accessed 2 Jul 2025.

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Description

In 2025,

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

announced Rs 882.87 crore plan to redevelop the Punaura Dham, including the construction of a grand Sita Mata temple and pilgrim corridor on the pattern of

Ram Janmabhoomi Ram Janmabhoomi () is the site that, according to Hindu religious beliefs, is the birthplace of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the banks of the Sarayu rive ...

(lit. 'Birthplace of Rama'). In 2024, 50 acre land around the temple was acquired for this purpose at the cost of Rs 120.58 crore.सीतामढ़ी जिले के पुनौरा धाम में मां जानकी जन्मस्थली पर मंदिर निर्माण का शिलान्यास अग्सत 2025 में होगा। नीतीश कैबिनेट की बैठक में इस योजना के लिए मंगलवार को 882 करोड़ रुपये की मंजूरी दी गई है।
livehindustan.com, 1 Jul 2025. From this budget, Rs 137 crore will be spent on the redeveloping the old Punaura Dham Janki Temple and remaining Rs 728 crore for the development of pilgrimage corridor and religious tourism facilities around the temple which will also entail upgrade of Sita-Vatika, Luv-Kush Vatika, new

parikrama Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indian religions, Indic religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only ...

(circumambulation) path, kiosks, cafeteria and children's play areas.Bihar govt approves Rs 882 crore for 'Punaura Dham Janki Mandir' revamp ahead of Assembly elections
indiatvnews.com, 1 Jul 2025. "Design Associates Inc", a design consultant which designed Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi temple, has been appointed the design consultant for the Punaura Dham upgrade project.
rediff.com, 1 Jun 2025. The grand Janaki Janmasthali Mandir will be constructed at Sitakund of

Sitamarhi Sitamarhi is the headquarters of the Sitamarhi district in Tirhut Division, Bihar. The city was named in honour of Sītā, wife of Rāma, who was born in Sitamarhi according to Hindu legends. In 1875, a subdivision for Sitamarhi was create ...

. The construction of this temple will be done by the Mahavir Mandir Trust of Patna. The temple has been designed by architect Piyush Sompura. The permission of construction of the proposed temple has been received from the Bihar State Religious Trust Board. Excellent

Makrana Makrana is an urban city located, near Kuchaman City, at the centre of state in Didwana-Kuchaman district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Rajasthani language is widely spoken here. It also served as a tehsil headquarters, with 136 villa ...

stone will be used in the construction of the proposed divine temple. On 13 December 2023,

laid the foundation stone for the construction of the grand temple of Mother

at Punauradham in

. Many facilities like huge gate, ''Parikrama Path'', ''Sita Vatika'', ''Luv Kush Vatika'', pavilion and parking will also be constructed in the Punauradham. The Government of Bihar has decided to acquire 50 acres of land around the existing temple for construction of a new grand temple at Sitamarhi. According to the Principal Secretary Siddharth, the site would be developed like Tirupati. Similarly according to Kameshwar Chaupal, the present temple was built around 100 years ago which is not in very good condition now. The new grand temple will be built in the line of Ayodhya. On 30 November 2024, the Union Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist, politician and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) serving as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. ...

during her visit in Mithila region announced that we had taken a resolution to build a grand temple of Goddess Janaki at her birthplace like the temple of

Ayodhya Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became th ...

. Similarly on 9 March 2025, the Union Home Minister

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

while addressing a cultural program ''Shaswata Mithila Mahotsav'' in

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar () is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the industrial corridor between the megacities of Delhi and Mumbai. Gandhinagar ...

said that a grand temple of ''Maa Janaki'' would be built in

soon which would send a message of ideal life to the women power of the entire world.

108 idols

It is planned that around a circular lower part 108 idols of Janaki will be displayed and soil from 51

Shakti Peethas The Shakta pithas, also called Shakti pithas or Sati pithas (, , ''seats of Shakti''), are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the mother goddess denomination in Hinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various forms of Ad ...

(pilgrimage shrines) will be used in the temple's construction, which was to start in 2024.

Construction

There is a 14 acre site on which the statue is planned. Shreebhagwati Sita Tirtha Kshetra Samiti is a committee of the Ramayan Research Council to oversee construction. On 22 June 2025, the chief minister Nitish Kumar of the Bihar Government released the final design of the proposed grand temple on his social media platforms. The Bihar Government has constituted a trust having nine members dedicated to the construction of the grand temple. The trust is named as ''Shree Janaki Janmabhoomi Punauradham Mandir Nyas Samiti''. The Bihar Government cabinet has already approved a budget of Rs 120 crore for the development of the campus of the temple.

References