The forest Dandak Forest wherein Raam trekked, was a dominion of their own kingdom, but it was a deserted forest. How it was named Dandak Van? One king named Dand, the last son of Ikshwaaku, was engaged in all kinds of demonic activities in this kingdom. His father Ikshwaaku received many a complaint about Dand’s deeds from his public, and angry at his erring son Dand banished him from his kingdom.

Dand took refuge in Vindhya mountain range and built a kingdom there and a beautiful capital for himself called Madhumantaa. He rubbed shoulders with all the Raakshas thereabout and thus became a disciple of Sage Shukraachaarya - the Guru of Raakshas.

One day when Sage Shukraachaarya was not in his Aashram, Dand went there, and saw Arajaa, the elder daughter of the sage Shukraachaarya, and molested her, in spite of her repeated protests. Later when Sage Shukraachaarya came to know about it, he got enraged and cursed Dand, to fall down along with his entire kingdom under a mud storm around that Madhumantaa capital for a period of seven consecutive days.

Then there came the mud storm for seven days and the entire kingdom covered under mud, later to become a forest called Dandak Van. The place to where the curse fearing people fled from that Madhunataa Nagaree was in further south and was called Jansthaan. At later time, when Raam’s period started, these two places, Dandak Forest and Janasthaan, were under the domain of Raavan, and Raavan made one demon named Khar along with Shoorpanakhaa, as the in-charge of this dominion Janasthaan.

This is the place where Raam built his Aashram in Panchavatee, at which Raakshasee Shoorpanakhaa came, and from where Raavan abducted Seetaa. When Raam asked the forest dwelling sages for a quiet place to live on, the sages in Dandak Forest, would make Raam constantly move southward, till He came to Janasthaan, indirectly directing Raam to eradicate the Raakshas over these places, which once belonged to Raam’s kingdom.