| Voice of Chitrakoot
: Shivendra Pandey
Limited livelihood.
Unemployment is a big issue faced by the youth. Due to lack of employment
opportunities people take solace in crime.
The number of Dacoit cases has increased.
Environment degradation needs to be given attention.
We do have schools in our district, but the quality provided is
very stagnant.
Government should give attention in improving and giving quality
education.
Unemployment is the root cause of all the issues. So government
should eradicate this social issue.
Chitrakoot
District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 3205.9 Km2
Population in Chitrakoot (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 990,626
Male : 527,101
Female : 463,525
Under 6 population
Total : 171,468
Male : 89,927
Female : 81,541
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 16065
In seeing : 8174
In speech : 1462
In hearing : 680
In movement : 4599
Mental : 1150
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : 155
Sex Ratio Rank : 91
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 448 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 286 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Brief About Chitrakoot District
A newly district was created on 6th May 1997 in
U.P. named Chhatrapati Shahuji Mahraj- Nager, which comprises of
Karwi & Mau Tehsils and has been carved out from the Banda district.
After some time, the district name was converted in Chirakoot on
4 th Sept. 1998. It falls in the northern Vindhya range of mountains
spread over the states of Utter Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The
larger part is included in the District Chitrakoot of U.P. and the
District Satna of Madhya Pradesh. The word "Chitrakoot" has been
used here to refer to this larger area and symbolizes the rich and
varied cultural,religious, historical and archaelogical heritage
of the various places and sites of this area. Lacs of peoole gather
here at these sites on each Amavasya. Somwati Amavasyas, Deepawali,
Sharad-Poornima, Makar-Sankranti and Ram Nawami are special occassions
for such gatherings and celebrations.
History
Celebrated in the entire Indian literature and sacblack books;
the abode of Lord Ram, his spouse Sitaji and his brother Lakshman
during their exile for about eleven years and a half; capable of
purifying the human heart and of attracting the tourists by its
charms of nature. Chitrakoot is a holy place famous both for its
natural scenery and its spiritual altitude. A tourist is as much
thrilled by sighting its beautiful waterfalls, playful young deer
and dancing peacocks as a pilgrim is overwhelmed by taking a dip
in the Payaswani/ Mandakini and by immersing himself in the dust
of the Kamadgiri. From times immemorial, the Chitrakoot area has
been a live centre of inspiration for cosmic consciousness.Thousands
of mendicants, hermits, sages and saints have attained higher and
higher spiritual status and have exerted a beneficial impact on
the world through their penance, sadhana, yoga, tapasya and various
arduous spiritual endeavours. Nature has been very generous in bestowing
over the area all the gifts in her power, which enable it to attract
pilgrims and tourists alike from all over the world. Atri, Anasuya,
Dattatreya, Maharshi Markandeya, Sarbhang, Sutikshna and various
other sages, seers, devotees and thinkers have lived in this area
through all the ages; and knowledgeable people say that many of
such figures are still engaged in tapasya here in various caves
and little known places. This lends the area a spiritual aroma which
permeates its entire atmosphere and makes it spiritually alive to
this day
Chitrakoot is the teerth of all teerths. According
to the Hindu belief, Prayagraj (modern name- Allahabad) is the king
of all teerths; but Chitrakoot is rated as more elevated. When Chitrakoot
did not go to him as all the other teearths did, Prayagraj was told
that Chitrakoot enjoyed a higher status and it was Prayagraj who
was expected to go to Chitrakoot and not vice versa. It is said
that Prayagraj comes every year to wash off his sins by bathing
in the Payaswini. It is also said that all the gods and goddesses
came to Chitrakoot when Ram performed the Shraddha ceremony of his
father to partake of the shuddhi (i.e. a feast given to all the
relatives and friends on the thirteenth day of the a death in the
family). They were captivated by the beauty of the place. Lord Ram's
presence there added a spiritual dimension to it. So they were unwilling
to depart. Vashishtha, the family priest sensing their desire to
stay and in accordance with the wishes of Lord Ram, forgot to utter
the visarjan (departure) mantra. Thus, all the gods and goddesses
have made this place their permanent abode and are always present
there. Today also, even when a mere tourist reaches this place strewn
profusely with ancient rocks, caves, ashrams and temples with sages
engaged in holy and spiritual sadhana, he loses himself unwittingly
in the atmosphere charged with unceasing holy rites and enlightening
sermons and partakes of the bliss of a world very different from
our own. Thousands of pilgrims and seekers of the truth from all
parts of the world resort to this place impelled by an irrepressible
desire to improve and elevate their lives.
Chitrakoot has had its own identity and this very
name since times immemorial. The first known mention of the place
is in the Valmiki Ramayan, which is believed to be the first ever
Mahakavya composed by the first ever poet. As an unwritten composition,
an epic of growth, it was handed down from generation to generation
by an oral tradition. As Valmiki is said to be contemporaneous with
(or even earlier than) Ram and is believed to have composed the
Ramayan before the birth of Ram, the antiquity of its fame can well
be guaged. Valmiki speaks of Chitrakoot as an eminently holy place
inhabited by the great sages, abounding in monkeys, bears and various
other kinds of fauna and flora. Both the sages Bharadwaj and Valmiki
speak of Chitrakoot in glowing terms and advise Ram to make it his
abode during the period of his exile, as the place was capable of
relieving a person of all his desires and of giving him a calm of
mind that could make him achieve the highest of the goals in his
life. Lord Ram himself admits this bewitching impact of this place.
In the ‘Ramopakhyan’ and descriptions of teerthas at various places
in the Mahabharat, Chitrakoot finds a favoublack place. It ‘Adhyatma
Ramayan’ and ‘Brihat Ramayan’ testify to the throbbing spiritually
and natural beauty of Chitrakoot. The writer has been told that
the latter work devotes as many as sixteen cantos to the description
of Chitrakoot and its principal places. Entire Indian literature
relating to Ram gives it a unique pride of place. The Rev. Father
Kamil Bulke even mentions a ‘Chitrakoot—Mahatmya’; found among the
collections of Mackenzie.Various Sanskrit and Hindi poets also have
paid similar tributes to Chitrakoot. Mahakavi Kalidas has described
this place beautifully in his epic ‘Raghuvansha’;. He was so much
impressed with its charms that he made Chitrakoot (which he calls
Ramgiri because of its time-honoublack associations with lord Ram)
the place of exile of his yaksha in Meghdoot. Tulsidas, the saint-poet
of Hindi has spoken very reverently of this place in all his major
works-Ramcharit Manas, Kavitawali, Dohawali and Vinay Patrika. The
last-mentioned work contains many verses which show a deep personal
bond between Tulsidas and Chitrakoot. He spent quite some part of
his life here worshipping Ram and craving his darshan. It was here
that he had what he must have consideblack the crowning moment of
his achievements--ie. the darshan of his beloved deity Lord Ram
at the intercession of Hanumanji. His eminent friend, the noted
Hindi poet Rahim (i.e. Abdur Rahim Khankhana, the soldier-statesmen-saint-scholar-poet
who was among the Nav-Ratnas of Akbar) also spent some time here,
when he had fallen from favour with Akbar's son Emperor Jahangir.
According to the Beetak literature of the Pranami sect, the saint-poet
Mahamati Prannath wrote two of his books-Chhota Kayamatnama and
Bara Kayamatnama here. The exact place where Prannath lived and
composed these works interpretting the Quran and showing its similarities
with Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran, could not be traced.
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