Places to visit in Banka District

Mandar Hill

Mandar Hill awesome isolated, singular boulder hill appears as a gigantic monolith rising at a height of 700’ is aptly connected with a popular mythical tale of immortality in Hindu Puranas.Close to the Vidyapeeth railway station, about 50 km. from the main city of Bhagalpur, Mandar hill is a sacred destination to Jains and Hindus both. At the base of the hill a large tank having a Vishnu temple at the centre with a lotus structure is built in the recent past. In the memory of the 12th Jain Tirthankara Vasupujya who attained nirvana here, a temple is built on top of this hill. On the way to the top an astounding lake settled at the niche of the black rock is absolutely startling.

The mythological tale of Hindus describes this hill as Sumeru Parvat, the churning pole of Amrit Manthan (Nectar of Immortality) with the winding ‘Naag’ (the Great Snake). The patterns that are visible on the rock is believed to have created by the mythical Great Snake while the churning took place between the Devs and Asuras. The Baunsi annual fair is a popular one to draw a lot of tourists at the place.

Papaharani

There is a pond in the foothills of Mandar mountain which is known as Papaharani. There are three paths leading up to the mountain through the vicinity of this pond. Many temples are lying in a dilapidated state under this mountain. In the center of Papaharani is a panoramic temple of Mahabishnu and Mahalakshmi. Two Jain temples are situated on the top of the mountain. A large number of Jain pilgrims come here to worship Lord Vasupujya. It is believed that this is the nirvana land of Lord Vasupujya. There are many small ponds on the mountain. Of these, the depth of the Milky Way and the conch shell is satisfactory. Sita Kund is the most famous among these kunds. It is named after the goddess Sita. It is believed that Sita took a bath here.

Shravani Mela

In the month of Sawan, pilgrims (Kanwaria) travel on foot from Sultanganj to Deoghar to offer Ganga water to Lord Shiva. The journey is of 105 km, of which 64 km falls in Banka. In this journey, three blocks of Banka are Belhar, Chandan and Katoriya. This route remains a fair-like view for one month. The entire government machinery like traffic police, health workers, electricity department, water supply department etc. are ready for the welfare and safety of the Kanwaris. The government provides dharamshalas to Kanwaris. Millions of Kanwaris go through this route. Many NGOs also become active during the Shravani Mela to serve the devotees.

Source : http://www.bihartourism.gov.in/districts/banka/Mandar%20Hill.html