Birgunj (Parsa), 9 December: Surendra Yadav from East Champaran under the state of Bihar, India, arrived at midnight on Sunday to visit the famous Gadhimai Temple in Bara along with his children. He came to visit Bariyapur in Mahagadhimai Municipality-1 after making a vow at the Gadhimai Temple, saying that his wish was fulfilled. Currently, there is a rush of Indian and Nepali pilgrims visiting the Gadhimai Temple.
“We had made a vow to Goddess Gadhimai some time ago. Now that Goddess has fulfilled our wishes, we have come to worship her,” said Yadav, a visitor. “There are a significant number of visitors who come to the Gadhimai temple, praying for the happiness, peace and prosperity of their families.” The five-year Gadhimai Mela is being held at the Gadhimai Temple in Bariyapur since Mangsir 1. The fair is attended by devotees not only from various states of India but also from other foreign countries. Since the fair is held every five years, the devotees attend in a very grand and civilized manner. People from various districts of Nepal are also coming to celebrate the fair.
Chairman of the Gadhimai Five-Year Fair Operation and Management Main Committee and Mayor of Mahagadhimai Municipality Upendra Prasad Yadav said that the participation of devotees in the Gadhimai Fair is very high. “Like in previous years, the presence of devotees in this year’s five-year Gadhimai Fair is very large,” he said, “We are expecting more than one crore devotees to attend the month-long fair.” In which the share of Indian tourists is estimated to be around 60 percent and domestic tourists to be around 40 percent.
Due to the huge number of devotees coming to witness the five-yearly fair of Gadhimai, there is a huge crowd and congestion from Kalaiya, the district headquarters of Bara, to Bariyapur, where the temple is located. Due to the huge number of devotees, traffic management has become complicated. From Kalaiya to Bariyapur, there was a large crowd of people coming to visit the temple in vehicles including two-wheeled motorcycles, three-wheeled autorickshaws, e-rickshaws, jeeps, cars, vans, buses, minibuses, trucks and others. Pilgrims from rural areas have come by reserving tractors.
Nilu Duwal, Chief Traffic Police Inspector of the District Traffic Police Office, Bara, said that there is a huge traffic jam at the Gadhimai Five-Year Fair. “There are visitors at any time of the day or night,” she said, adding, “Traffic management is being done by deploying sufficient manpower.”
More than ten thousand buffaloes sacrifice
On Sunday morning from 4 am to 6 am, after performing religious rituals, the Panchabali(sacrifice) was offered at a maulo(the alter) built near Brahma Baba. The male buffaloes sacrifice was offered from 6 am to noon on Sunday. According to the five-year Gadhimai Mela(festival) Management Committee, more than 10,000 male buffaloes have already been offered. Today, too, the work of offering goat sacrifice has been going on since morning.
