The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has decided to promote the famous Ramayana circuit in the state in a big way, targeting Hindu devotees across the country.
The move is reportedly on the pattern of Nitish Kumar's recent attempts to promote Buddhist and Jain circuits in the state on the world tourist map.
Incidentally, Nitish Kumar and his party JD(U) apparently distanced themselves from the recent BJP-VHP-sponsored agitation on Ram Setu in the wake of the controversial affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Congress-led UPA.
Sources said the Nitish government had already entrusted the task of identifying such places associated with Lord Ram in the state with authenticity to the Bihar state board of religious trusts administrator Kishore Kunal.
A former IPS officer, Kunal, was reported to have already studied ancient Sanskrit texts, Khsemendra's Bal Ramayana,Valmiki's Ramayana and famous Sanskrit dramas Prasanna Raghav and Anarg Raghav to locate sites associated with Lord Ram and Sita in the state.
The Mithila Mahatmya, an 18th-century work, describes the famous "Parikarma", which covers 128-km distance between India and Nepal. The Parikarma, very popular among Hindu pilgrims, starts from Kalyaneshwar (popularly known as Kalna) in Madhubani of Bihar near the Nepal border.
Going by the age-old texts, some places are already identified with Lord Ram.According to Valmiki's Ramayana, "Siddhashram" in Bihar's Buxar town is identified with Ram as he had performed yagna here.
The most important place associated with Ramayana in Bihar is said to be Sitamarhi, the land of Sita.
