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Tom Robertson

Shivaratri in Gobardiha

Culture, Journalism, Media
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
By
Peter GillTom RobertsonDamian Jones • February 26, 2020
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    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.

    Click picture for enlargement 

    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: Hand-powered Ferris wheel, Shivaratri Melaa. Picture Credit: Tom Robertson
    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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      Peter Gill
      Peter Gill writes about the environment, politics, and human rights issues in Nepal.
      Tom Robertson
      Tom Robertson is a historian who has worked in Nepal for 10 years since the 1990s.
      Damian Jones
      Damian Jones was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Deukhuri Valley 30 years ago and is the founder and designer of Aid Through Trade .

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