Fairs
& Festivals
The people of Rajasthan live life to the hilt and nobody can really match
the gay abandon with which the Rajasthani surrenders himself to the numerous
fairs and festivals that are celebrated here.
There are animal fairs, to mark the chanting seasons. In fact, celebrations
occur almost round the year and provide the visitor with a splendid opportunity
to gain an insight in to the life of the Rajasthani. There is dancing, singing,
drama, devotional music and other community activities that can enthrall the
visitor.
Some of the more important fairs and festivals are the
Desert Festival of
Jaisalmer (held in January- February),
Pushkar Fair, held in Pushkar,
near Ajmer (November),
Gangaur Festival, Jaipur (Murch- April ),
Elephant
Festival, Jaipur (March- April ),
Marwar Festival, Jodpur (October),
Camel Festival, Bikaner (January), Mewar Festival, Udaipur.
Listed here is a very small selection of the countless number of exciting events
that are held in Rajasthan throughout the year.
BANESHWAR FAIR: Held at Baneshwar at the time of Shivratri (January –
February), this is a tribal fair on the banks of the Mahi and Son rivers. Bhil
tribals from all three states gather here to worship Shiva, and set up camps
in this forested area in colorful groups.
CAMEL FESTIVAL: Held in Bikaner in January, this celebration has been
recently introduction in the desert city with the only camel-breeding farm of
the country. Not unexpectedly, most of the events are staged around this beast,
with camel races and camel dances. There are also several folk performances.
This may also be your chance to experience the rare fire dance staged late at
night.
CHAKSU FAIR: A gathering of people from Jaipur's rural pockets collects
here in almost all forms of transport – laden into tractor trolleys and
jeeps – at what must be one of the most colorful events on the Rajasthani
fair calendar.
DESERT
FAIR: Jaisalmer exercises immense charm, but with the staging of the annual
Desert Festival (January – February), it has also become one of the stretching
sands around this desert citadel. A number of amusing events at the stadium
include turban tying competitions and camel races.
ELEPHANT FAIR: On the occasion of Holi in Jaipur, this festival of pachyderms
includes several interesting attractions including elephant polo. The caparisoned
elephants, their bodies painted with floral decorations by the mahouts, are
a sight to behold.
GANGAUR FAIR: Idols of Issar and Gangaur, manifestations of the Hindu
God Shiva and Goddess Parvati, are worshipped by women, particularly the unmarried
who pray for a consort like Shiva. Celebrated all over Rajasthan, it has women
taking processions through the streets of town, carrying images of the divine
couple.
KOLAYAT FAIR: The sacred site where Kapil Muni is supposed to have meditated,
a fair is held here on banks of its lake, the air bristling with excitement.
Kolayat can be visited from Bikaner.
MARWAR FESTIVAL: Held every October in Jodhpur, this annual event attempts
to showcase the art and culture of the Jodhpur region. It is devoted almost
exclusively to song and dance. The Maand Festival has become a part of this
huge regional celebration.
MEWAR FESTIVAL: Held to coincide with Gangaur in Udaipur, the whole city
turns out to mark the culmination of the 18-days festival, with a procession
of floats on Pichola lake.
NAGAUR FESTIVAL: A trading fair for cattle and camels in January –
February, it is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on rural life as owners
from all over the state come to camp on the outskirts of Nagaur while they buy
and sell animals. The hides of the animals, cut into beautiful patterns, are
particularly interesting.
NAVARATRI: The nine days preceding Dussehra are marked by fasting, and
one ritual meal a day. The martial Rajputs sacrifice a goat as food for consecration.
The worship of their weapons is obligatory, usually in the month of September
– October. It is a private celebration with no public fanfare.
PUSHKAR
FAIR: Among the most easily identifiable of Rajasthan’s many fairs,
Pushkar has come to symbolize the heartbeat of the people of the state. Held
in November in Pushkar, the temple town close to Ajmer, where an 8th century
temple of Brahma draws the faithful, it is located on the banks of lake. Pilgrims
bathe here and pray in the temple, while the actual fair is held in the vast
stretching desert around it. Here, traders set camp to strike deals at India’s,
and probably the world’s largest camel fair, though horses are also sold.
It is also a time for friends and families to get together, camp in the desert,
entertain each other with folk songs and dances, cook meals over camp fires,
and wander through the exuberant melee of people looking for handicrafts, or
merely to stand in a queue for the giant wheel… Special tented camps are
set up on the occasion for visitors but such is a draw of this fair internationally,
that even these are soon exhausted, and people may have to stay in nearby Ajmer,
or even as far as Jaipur, visiting here by day
SITLA MATA FAIR: A large fair is held to propitiate the goddess of war
whose wrath can be the terrible scourge of smallpox unless appeased by her followers.
sacred food on this day consists of stale food left out the previous night.
The fair is held in and around the temple dedicated to goddess in Amber, Jaipur.
SUMMER FESTIVAL: Held in June in Mount Abu, this is one of few celebrations
during the summer months (though it coincides too with the marriage ‘season’
which spans, according to planetary chartings, from May-July). In the cool environs
of the hill town, it is time to relax while folk performances are staged, particularly
of the Bhil tribes of the region.
TEEJ: Another festival dedicated to the worship of Shiva and Parvati,
this time it is married women who pray for a long, happy marital life during
the monsoon months of July-August. Though celebrations are held all over the
state, they are particularly colorful in Jaipur where a procession wends its
way through the heart of the old city. Women dress in their finery and spend
time in groups at swings that are specially erected for the festival.
URS AJMER SHARIF: Held in the holy town of Ajmer in honour of the Sufi
saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, special prayers are offered at the mosque, and
huge amounts of consecrated food offered from the large, steaming cauldrons
that were a gift from Akbar. While quwwalis -folk songs are sung at night, the
celebration unite people of all faiths, and the complete town is decorated with
buntings, and wears the spirit of festivity.
