Sonepur:cattle fair, marriage market

Sonepur fair is centuries old but has a new idea in place. Over 500 marriages here have been made in just a few days since it was inaugurated on November 4. So far the fair has been Asia’s biggest cattle trading centre, but, of late, it is also a trading point for many marriageable people!

Beginning on Kartik Purnima, the fair will end after a month on December 4. Some interesting facts were given by the local priest of the Hariharnath temple in Bihar. He explained that those who attended the fair to take a holy bath at the spot where the river Gandak met the Ganga, preferred to stay on for a few more days if they wanted to seek out matches for their sons or daughters.

The belief of the people who marry here is that once the matches are finalised before Baba Hariharnath or Lord Shiva, the marriages would continue for eternity, said the temple priest.

A number of devotees were queried about the alliances of their sons and daughters. Ramji Mishra of Sonepur, an annual visitor for three decades, said that there are scores of people who visit Asia’s biggest cattle fair to fix up the weddings.

So get ready, then, for the new kind of shaadi.market!

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/687722