There is a claim that kamadgiri is the original chitrakUT, and that sItA-rAma-lakshmaNas lived here for twelve years, before proceeding deeper into South.
They say that danDakAraNya ruled by rAvaNa starts from here.
khara-dUShaNas, rAvana's brothers were said to be the administrators of the area. We have to search for evidence of exact boundary between daSarathA's kingdom and rAvaNa's kingdom.
ikshvAkus claimed that the entire earth was theirs. (rAma gave this as one reason for punishing vAli who was guilty of victimising his brother sugrIva for no fault of his.).
If rAvaNa was the ruler of Sri Lanka, which is about 2,500 km. from citrakUT, how could he have been the ruler of citrakUT and could he have appointed khara and dUShaNa as his representatives? -- This gives us the clue. rAvana was not the ruler of Shri Lanka. He was ruler of a kingdom in Madhya Pradesh--Bihar--Jharkhand--Chattisgadh.
Now let us go to VR (vAlmiki rAmAyan) verses.
2-116-1
bharata returned from citrakUt to ayodhya-nandigrama, carrying rAma's footwear on his head. Then rAma found some anxiety in the sages on citrakUT. They were perturbed for some reason.
pratiprayAte bharate
vasan rAmaH tapO vanE
lakShayAm Asa sa udvEgam
atha autsukyam tapasvinAm.
2-116-3
They were whispering among themselves and exchanging messages through their eyebrows.
2-116-4
rAma inquired reasons from them, with folded hands.
2-116-10
One elderly Sage said that demons have intensified their taunts and torments.
2-116-11
The Sage Cautioned rAmA about khara, a brother of rAvana, and a human-flesh eater.
2-116-11 to 22
The sage described the taunts and torments. He was ready to move away. He suggested rAmA also to move.
2-116-23 to 26
That Sage and his friends left.
2-117-1
rAmA too wanted to leave, saying that bharata's memories were haunting him.
2-117-3
rAma Spoke of contamination by the dung of horses, elephants, bullocks, army.
2-117-4
The trio left to some other place.
2-117-5
Reached anasUya - atri hermitage.
2-117-6 to 28
They stay at atri's Ashram hermitage. SItA received anasUya's advice.
2-118-1 to 54
Conversation of anasUya and sIta. sItA narrated the story of her wedding with rAma.
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21st Century tourist citrakUT of madhya pradesh has inter alia (among other things), the hermitage of Sage atri - anasUya near a place called sphaTika-sila (crystal-stone) about 16 km. from citrakUT.
2-119-1 to 22
SRL spend their night near atri Ashram. Sages nearby narrate the woes suffered by them in the hands of demons and request rAma to save. Finally sItA-rAma-lakshmaNa move further.
UPto this point including Atri heritage, everything has taken place within 150 km. radius of Allahabad on the border of uttar pradEsh and madhya pradEsh.
Book of Forests, AraNya kAnDa started now.
3-1-1
Sita-rAma-lakshmaNa immediately after entry in danDaka Forest (We cannot forget that citrakUT and atri hermitage were also part of danDaka.), found hermitages of Sages.
3-1-5
"phala mUlai SObhitam" full of fruits and tubers.
3-1-10
Sages welcomed the trio.
3-1-11 to 3-1-23
Reception by Sages.
3-2-1 to 25
Battle with viradha (cursed celestial singer tumburu).
3-3-1 to 26
Continuation of battle between rAma-lakshmaNa and viradha.
3-4-1 to 34
Elimination of viradha-turned tumburu.
3-5-1 to 36
Trio met Sage Sarabhanga. Before dying, he advised rAma to go to sutIkshNa's hermitage.
3-5-37
Sage Sarabhanga's advice to proceed against the flow of river mandAkini (the same river of kamadgiri and citrakUT).
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This mandAkini must either be upstream or downstream of river mandAkini at citrakUT.
Government of Madhya Pradesh appointed a special team to trace the path of sItA-rAma-lakshmaNa's movement upto Sri Lanka. They did not make any headway, because they have to function as per the expectations of the ruling party of madhya pradesh. Nobody knows the present stage of investgation. The team might have become defunct.
3-5-38 to 43
Death of Sage Sarabhanga.
3-6-1 to 26
Sages pray RL duo to save them. RL promise.
3-7-1 to 23
Trios One day at Sage sutIkshNa's hermitage. rAma saw Indra, God of Heaven. But they did not talk to one another.
3-8-1 to 20
Trio Leaving Sage sutIkshNa's hermitage, after seeking his permission.
3-9-1 to 33
Sita's advice to rAma against unnecessary animosity against demons.
3-10-1 to 22
rAma replied Sita.
3-11-1 to 3-11-23
Trio proceeding along the forests.
rAma heard story of Sage MandakarNi from Sage dharmabhrita, about a lake called five-damsels.
3-11-24 to 28.
Here we find that the trio stayed here for eleven years. These verses were quoted in part 1 (#137) of this blog post.
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All the treks (walks) described above from citrakUT to sutIkshNa did take several days, but not several months. Hardly 300 km. could have been traversed. Everything must have taken place between Allahabad - and Satna/jabbalpur.
Thus the claim of kamadgiri-citrakUT that sItA-rAma-lakshmaNa spent 12 years in citrakUT appears supportable.
But, I have a strong feeling that the trio didn't move southwards. They might have moved towards sasarAm (rohtas), babhuva (kaimur), then gaya. There was a village called "gOdAvari" in gaya District.
Did the trio take the niranjan and mOhana - falgu rivers as gOdAvari? This question taunts my mind everyday. gaya and bOdh gaya had buddhist culture. valmIki rAmAyaN described rAvaNa approaching pancavaTi in ochre robes. The gupta dynastic period, during which vAlmiki rAmAyana evolved as a tangible book from the status of a ballad or a folk song, had some stones to grind against buddhism.
mArica's abode was his mother's abode i.e. tATaka garden (taDka) was in bIhar. One matanga hill is in rAjagrih. rAvana's mandara mounts are in bhagalpur and banka.
The entire scenario seemed to have moved south-eastwards on the ganga river via buxar-sasarAm-gaya-patna-hajipur to bhagalpur apparently rAvana's Capital. kishkindha, we have already identified between vindhyAcal and sasarAm.
Thus, there seems to be no role for South Indian Tourist Destinations like bhadracalam, bellari-hampi and sabarimalai, and maharAshtrian locations like nAsik.
Sorry, South India.
(Subject to continuous revision, with obtention of further fresh evidence and subject to fresh analyses).
We now
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