According to Ramayana, Lord Bharata knew that his brother, Lord Rama, was the rightful heir to the throne. Since he was residing in the forest, he wanted to perform the crowning ceremony in the jungle itself. Towards that end, Lord Bharata collected water from all the sacred rivers and holiest pilgrimage destinations across India. Lord Rama, however, declined to be crowned as the king even in the jungle. This put Bharata in a fix, since he did not know what to do with all the holy water that he had collected. Upon the advice of Sage Atri, he poured the water in a well, and from that day onwards, it came to be known as Bharat Koop (well).

On the outskirts of the city of Chitrakoot lies a huge well called Bharat Koop, which is considered to be holy. Devotees believe that bathing in the water of this well is equivalent to taking a dip into all the teerths (pilgrimage destinations). A temple dedicated to Lord Rama also lies nearby. During the festival of Dussehra, that celebrates the return of Lord Rama, this particular place receives hundreds of visitors.

Legend has it that Lord Rama's brother, Bharata, drew water from all the holy places to honour Rama as the king of Ayodhya. However, Bharata was unsuccessful in persuading Lord Rama to return to his kingdom and take his rightful throne of Ayodhya. Following the advice of Maharishi Atri, Bharata poured all the holy water into the Bharat Koop well, which is why it is considered sacred.