Tom Robertson

Shivaratri in Gobardiha

Shivaratri melaa (fair) in Gobardiha is a marketplace for traders, a venue for theater and dance, a gamblers’ den, even a place to search for love.

| February 26, 2020

Peter Gill Tom Robertson Damian Jones • February 26, 2020

read 3 min

For nearly a century, the village of Gobardiha in Dang’s Deukhuri Valley has hosted an annual Shivaratri melaa (fair). The melaa has many faces. It is at once a ritual of devotion to Mahadev (the great god), a marketplace for traders from near and far, a venue for theater and dance, a gamblers’ den, even a place to search for love.

According to locals, the melaa began in 1982 BS (1925-26 AD). At the time, a local tax collector named Jokhan Chaudhary had a dream-vision that a Shivalinga was buried in a nearby forest. He went to the spot, unearthed the god, placed it beside his Haveli, and built a temple around it. Jokhan invited villagers from all around to worship at his temple on Shivaratri, and he also hosted a giant feast and theater performance in a nearby orchard. At first, only Tharu people and Yadav cow-herders came (very few hill-caste people settled in the Deukhuri Valley prior to the 1960s, when the government eradicated malaria). Today, the melaa is attended by people of all castes and ethnicities.

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Caption: Worshipers at the Gobardiha Shiva temple Picture Credit: Tom Robertson

Caption: A boy sells flowers to worshipers at the Gobardiha Shiva temple. Picture Credit: Tom Robertson

Caption: A young woman dressed in traditional Tharu attire. Picture Credit: Damian Jones

Caption: Jeri(sweets) vendors, Shivaratri Melaa. Picture Credit: Damian Jones

Caption: Balloon seller, Shivaratri Melaa. Picture Credit: Tom Robertson

Caption: Shopkeeper at the Shivaratri Melaa. Picture Credit: Tom Robertson

Caption: Hand-powered Ferris wheel, Shivaratri Melaa. Picture Credit: Tom Robertson

Caption: Traditional tattoo artist at the Shivaratri Melaa, using a battery-operated needle. Thirty years ago, several such tattooists plied their trade at the melaa. This year, there was just one. Picture Credit: Damian Jones

Caption: Shailendra Chaudhary, one of the descendants of Jokhan Chaudhary, having tea in front of his family’s Haveli. Jokhan Chaudhary was a local tax collector who built the Gobardiha Shiva Temple and started the annual melaa in the 1920s. Picture Credit: Damian Jones

Caption: Gambling game where contestants throw hoops onto blocks to win money. Picture Credit: Peter Gill

Caption: The cotton candy king. Picture Credit: Peter Gill

Caption: Love and other trinkets. Picture Credit: Peter Gill

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