Chitrakūṭa — Rama's forest exile

Hindu / Vaishnava - Chitrakoot, Satna, Madhya Pradesh (25.2°N, 80.85°E) Chitrakūṭa — where Rama, Sītā, and Lakṣmaṇa spent the first 11.5 years of their 14-year exile — is a pilgrimage across MP and UP (the district straddles both states). Key sites: Rāmaghāṭ (Mandakini river, Rama's bathing ghat), Kamadgiri Parvat (Rama's meditation hill), Spaṭika Śilā (the rock where Rama and Sīta sat), Hanuman Dhārā (waterfall where Hanuman cooled after burning Lanka), *Bharat Milāp Sthal