The Mithila Madhya Parikrama — sometimes called the Mahakumbh of Mithila — is the great circular pilgrimage of the region’s central heartland, a roughly 128-kilometre route that loops through both Nepal and India. Pilgrims walk it largely barefoot over fifteen days, beginning on the Amavasya of Phalgun and ending on Holi, halting each night at a sacred village along the way.
Traditionally said to be a five-day journey, it was lengthened by Mithila’s pandits so that the old and infirm could complete it. Starting near Dhanusha and weaving through the open frontier before returning to Janakpur, the parikrama threads together the temples, ponds and legends of Sita’s land into a single living act of devotion — and one of the clearest expressions of Mithila as one cultural body spanning two nations.