On March 2, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will inaugurate the Shivratri fair in Mandi district. The event, which will take place from March 2 to 8, will feature around 200 deities. Beginning Monday evening, deities started arriving in town.
In Mandi, Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary has imposed Section 144 from March 2 to 8, in honour of the Shivratri festival. During this time, carrying weapons will be strictly prohibited.
By honoring Baba Bhootnath with a jaleb today, the Mandi district administration invited him to the fair. On behalf of Madho Rai deity, Arindam Choudhary, who is also the president of the Mela Committee, and his wife Manu Panwar visited Baba Bhootnath’s temple to invite him to the Shivratri fair. On this occasion, he paid his respects to the Bhootnath temple.
Mandi Shivaratri Fair
The Mandi Shivaratri Fair is an annual internationally recognized fair that takes place in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, for seven days beginning with the Hindu holiday of Shivaratri.
Every year on the Krishna paksha 13th day/13th night (breaking fast/’vrata’ on 14th after sunrise) of the waning moon in the month of Phalguna, which corresponds to February/March in the Gregorian calendar, the Mandi Shivaratri fair is celebrated. Because of its worldwide appeal, the festival is referred to as an international event. Mandi town is known as the ‘Varanasi of the Hills’ because of the vast number of gods and goddesses who are welcomed to the festival from its 81 temples.
The Mandi festival or fair is particularly well-known because it transforms Mandi town into a huge celebration venue when all gods and goddesses from the Mandi district, estimated to number more than 200, gather here beginning on Shivaratri day.
The ruler Ishwari Sen is associated to the special celebration of this festival as a fair, which begins with Shivaratri. After losing his kingdom in the war waged by Sansar Chand of Punjab in 1792, Ishawri Sen was imprisoned for 12 years. Gurkha invaders who had invaded the Kangra and Mandi states liberated him. The Gurkhas then returned the Mandi state to Ishwari Sen. On his return to Mandi, his state capital, he was greeted with a celebration. On this occasion, the King invited all of the Kingdom’s hill deities to a grand celebration, which took place on the Shivratri festival day.
Every year since then, the Mandi fair has been held in Mandi during Shivaratri. In recent years, modernity has seeped in, with Bollywood artists performing at the Paddal ground during the evening celebrations.
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