‘Bagwal’ the stone pelting festival held at Baarahi Devi temple
‘Bagwal’ the stone pelting festival held at Baarahi Devi temple
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Aug 9
‘Bagwal’, the annual stone pelting festival at Devidhura in Champawat district was held at Barahi Devi temple and continued for 25 minutes, according to Champawat Superintendent off Police (SP) Ajay Ganpati.
“Over 30000 spectators from all parts of Kumaon and devotees from other parts of country, witnessed the stone pelting festival that was played with fruits and vegetables for over 10 minutes following courts orders in this connection,” said Manish District Magistrate, Champawat.
“To play Bagwal with fruits and flowers,in place of stones, following high courts orders in 2013, we had already collected 3 quintal of fruits and 50 kg of fruits,” said the DM.
“The ‘Bagwal’ this year, started at 1.45 pm and continued for 25 minutes resulting in minor injuries to some fighters,.” said Ajay Ganpati, SP Champawat.
The whole Mela area has been divided in 12 sectors to enable elaborated security arrangements. “We have also installed CCTV cameras in all sectors for police to keep watch, “said the SP.
According to the district information officer Dheeraj Karki, elaborated arrangements were done to treat the participants who got injured..”The medical facilities were provided on the spot.”said DIO.
The stone fighters from Four clans of local residents namely , Agarwal, Langariya, Chamyal and Balig, take part in this traditional festival that is attributed to devotion of Goddess Barahi, the female form of Barah incarnation of Lord Vishnu as per the belief of Hindus .”According to traditional tale, in ancient times the people lived under fear of a demon who used to eat them frequently and they prayed to Goddess Barahi to save them from the demon. The Goddess killed the demon and asked the people to shed blood equal to a man’s body every year on the day of ‘Shravan Shukla Purnima’ to please the Goddess, “said Kirti Ballabh Joshi, chief priest of the temple.
The devotees have thronged the temple from last 10 days to offer wooden shields to the Goddess and these shields are used by stone fighters to save them from the attack. “The people dressed in saffron, rosy white and yellow colors, are also having ‘darshana’ of sanctum sanctorium, of Goddess, Bhimshila, Anant valla and Machwal stone, those are venerated from ancient times,” said the chief priest.
