The Sītā Māī Temple is an ancient structure situated in the village of Sitamai in the

Karnal district Karnal district is one of the 22 Districts of Haryana, districts of Haryana, a state in North India which constitutes the National Capital Region (NCR) of the country. The city of Karnal is a part of the National Capital Region (India), Nation ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

. It is at a distance of 19 kilometers from

Nilokheri Nilokheri is a town, just 19 km from Karnal, Karnal city and a municipal committee in Karnal district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana. It has 13 wards. The town is located about 143 km from Delhi on Natio ...

and lies on one of the alternative routes available to travel between

Karnal Karnal () is a city located in the state of Haryana, India and is the administrative headquarters of Karnal District. The city is well connected as it lies on National Highway 01, in the south of the city lies the cities of Panipat and Sonipa ...

and

Kaithal Kaithal () is a city and municipal council in the Kaithal district of the Indian state of Haryana. Kaithal was previously a part of Karnal district and later, Kurukshetra district until 1 November 1989, when it became the headquarters of the ...

. This is perhaps the only temple in the whole of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

that is solely dedicated to the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

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 ...

, the divine consort of

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

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 ...

. This temple is under the administration of Ramanandi Bairagis.

The structure

The temple is made of bricks and the striking feature is the elaborate ornamentation, which covers the whole shrine. The pattern of the shrine is formed by deep lines in the individual bricks, which seem to have been made before the bricks were burnt. This means that the forms they were to take must have been separately fixed for each brick when the temple must have been originally designed.Page 226, Report on the Revision of Settlement of the Panipat Tahsil & Karnal Parganah, By Denzil Ibbetson, Published 1883, Printed at the Pioneer Press

Significance

The temple stands on the spot where the Goddess Mother Earth split open, to allow

to repose in her bosom, in answer to Her appeal, in proof of Her sinlessness.

References

Hindu temples in Haryana Hindu pilgrimage sites in India Sita temples Karnal district {{india-hindu-temple-stub

The structure

Significance

See also

References