Ahalya Sthan (Ahilya Asthan)
Kamtaul, Darbhanga district, Bihar, India
- Deities
- Rama, Sita
- Traditions
- vaishnava
- Worship status
- active
- Coordinates
- 26.3125, 85.8145
- Darshan hours
- Varies by temple and season; no specific schedule was confirmed by the sources consulted for this entry. Consult local temple management before visiting.
- Best time to visit
- October to March for cooler weather. No specific festival calendar for this site was confirmed by the sources consulted.
- How to reach
- In Ward 11 of Kamtaul town, Darbhanga district, Bihar, in the Mithila region; reachable by road via Darbhanga city. Exact route/rail details were not confirmed by the sources consulted for this entry.
Location
Open in Google MapsThe Ramayana’s Bala Kanda tells of Ahalya, wife of the sage Gautama, who was cursed to become stone after the god Indra deceived her in her husband’s absence; the curse held until Rama, traveling with the sage Vishwamitra toward Mithila, touched the stone and restored her to human form. The site identified with that episode in Bihar’s Mithila region is Ahalya Sthan (also spelled Ahilya Asthan), located in Ward 11 of Kamtaul, in Darbhanga district.
According to the source consulted for this entry, the present temple was built between 1662 and 1682 CE under two rulers named Maharaja Chhatra Singh and Maharaja Rudra Singh, and is locally described as the first Ram-Janaki temple built in India — a claim this entry reports but has not been able to independently corroborate beyond the single source that states it. Ahalya Sthan is counted today among Darbhanga district’s notable pilgrimage and tourist destinations, alongside the nearby Gautam Ashram associated with the same story. No festival calendar, darshan-hours schedule, or further architectural detail was found in the sources consulted, so those specifics are omitted here pending better documentation.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked against Wikipedia's Ahalya Sthan article: confirms the site's location in Ward 11 of Kamtaul, Darbhanga district (coordinates approx. 26.3125°N, 85.8145°E), the Ramayana tradition of Ahalya's liberation from her curse by Rama's touch, and a claim that the standing temple was constructed between 1662 and 1682 CE under two named rulers, Maharaja Chhatra Singh and Maharaja Rudra Singh, with the site further described as 'the first Ram Janaki temple in India.' No festival calendar, darshan hours, or architectural description beyond this dating were given.
- historical record: Cross-checked against Wikipedia's Darbhanga article, which lists Ahalya Sthan among the district's tourist/pilgrimage attractions alongside Gautam Ashram, consistent with the Mithila region's broader Ramayana associations, without further detail on the temple itself.
- scripture: Ramayana — Bala Kanda: Gautama's curse turning his wife Ahalya to stone after Indra's deception, and her release, restored to human form, by the touch of Rama's feet as he travels with Vishwamitra to Mithila.
For review
- The single historical_record source located for this entry gives an unusually specific construction window (1662-1682 CE) and names two patron rulers, along with the claim that this is 'the first Ram Janaki temple in India' — but this could not be cross-verified against a second independent source. Treat the precise dating and, especially, the 'first in India' claim with caution pending further verification; they are reported here as the source states them, not independently confirmed.
- Buxar district, also covered elsewhere in this directory, documents its own, apparently separate, local claim (at a site called Ahirauli) to being where Ahalya was released from her curse. This entry does not attempt to reconcile the two traditions.