Pundrik Ashram is a

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 ...

monastery related to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

sage Pundrik. The sage Pundrik was an Indian sage mentioned in the Indian religious texts. He was born in a Brahmin family. He was an ascetic connoisseur of

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

, lover of self-study, conqueror of senses and forgiving. He was committed to observance of cosmic-

deeds. Pundrik Ashram is located at Punauradham in

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 ...

Mithila region Mithila (), also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal, is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothil ...

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 ...

. According to legend, Punauradham is considered as the penance place of Pundrik Rishi.

Description

According to legends, there was an ashram of the sage Pundrik, from which this place was named ''Pundrik'' village, which later became popular as ''Punaura'' or ''Punaranya'' and presently it is known as ''Punauradham''. In ' Padmapuran', Devarshi Narad had described the Pundrik Tirtha to Lord

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' ...

that a creature becomes pure just by entering the ashram of ''Punauradham'' because it is the place of the incarnation of the goddess

Laxmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

as ''Bhumiputri'' from the

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. In the ashram there is a Lord

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

temple known as ''Pundakeshwar Mahadev Mandir''. There is a religious pond near the Ashram known as Sita Kund or Janaki Kund. The Sita Kund is believed as the manifestation place of the 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 ...

. It is believed that this ancient pond has been the penance place of sage Maharishi Pundrik. There is Lord Sun temple to the east, Lord

temple to the west and goddess

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

temple to the south at the pond. Earlier in the

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 ...

this place was the hermitage of the sage Pundarik. Once there was a famine in the Kingdom of

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 ...

, then 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 ...

ploughed there in the farm field on the advice of the sages. But when the goddess

was found by the King

from the field during he was ploughing, then the sage Pundrik donated this part of the hermitage to the King

for the monument of the birthplace of goddess

. Presently ''Swami Umeshanand'' is the Pithadhishwar of the ''Pundarik Rishi Kshetra''. A grand

Yajna In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedas, Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature ...

shala is proposed to be built in the Ashram. On 28 January 2022, ''Pandit Umesh Mishra'' laid the foundation stone of the grand

shala under the chairmanship of Shri Kishori Sharan Madhukar Muthia Baba, the saint of ''Shri Sitaram Naam Sukhdham Ashram Muthia Baba Kutiya''.

References

{{Reflist Ashramas Indian philosophers Vedic scholars Mithila