JANAKPUR, Nepal -- There are few places where history and allegory blur more easily than the Indian subcontinent. The line dividing fact and fable meanders and shifts like the great Ganges River that figures so prominently in both.
In Nepal, near the border, on the edge of the Ganges' flood plain, is the small, bustling city of Janakpur. At Janakpur's heart is Janaki Mandir, one of the most important Hindu temples in "the world's only Hindu kingdom."
Standing before this enormous white confection of a building drenched in warm, clear winter sun, the differences between truth and legend seem as hazy as the thick fog that masked the temple's domed spires this morning.