Bagwal Fair Devidhura Uttarakhand

 Rakhi Fair ( Bagwal Fair ) Devidhura 

Bagwal Fair, also known as Rakhi Fair, is celebrated at  Maa Varahi Devi Temple in Devidhura, situated about 45 km away from Lohaghat in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand. Devidhura is also well-known as the Tiraha of Pithoragarh, Nainital, and Almora. 

When is Bagwal Fair celebrated?

Bagwal Fair is celebrated every year on Raksha Bandhan, which falls on the full moon day of the month of Shravan.

How is the Bagwal Fair celebrated?

On the day of Rakhi Bagwal, a game is played between four groups of people, and in the local dialect, it's known as Khams. Four groups are Chamyal Kham, Lamgarhia Kham, Garhwal Kham, and Valig Kham. 

In Starting they start worshiping Ma Vahari with the priest and group leader of Kham and after that everyone gets maha parasad.

Each member of the four Kham gets to enter the temple complex and starts doing parikrama after this every person takes his place in his Khams which are in the field of Devi Temple. Bagwal starts with the sound of Shankh. 

Everyone who participates in the fair carries a Farra(wooden shield), stones, and sticks to fight. When they throw stones at another group they protect themselves with Farra and this continues until the priest stops it. 

This is one of the most popular fairs in Uttarakhand and people come from different parts of India and neighboring countries Nepal and Bhutan to be part of this fair.  They cheer off the team with music, songs and so many other ways as they can.

History of Bagwal Fair

As per the scripts or legend there used to be a sacrifice of a man(Nar Bali) at the temple of Ma Varahi every year as a gift to ma from the members of Kham. Once there was the turn of a boy and he was the only grandson of that old lady so she prepared her grandson with sorrow seeing this devotion Mad got very happy and she said she would change this rule now offer blood equal to man’s body.

Since that day Bagwal came into existence, they threw stones at one another and the whole blood this offered to Ma Varahi. 

Significance of Bagwal Fair

Now it has become a ritual and the people of Uttarakhand, especially Champwat, are still celebrating this fair with great devotion. Now with the modernization of time, people are using apples, flowers, and other fruits and replacing stone. 

Note-

It is noteworthy that on July 11, 2022, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami declared the famous Devidhura 'Maa Varahi Bagwal Fair' of Champawat as a state fair.

How To Reach Devidhura

Haldwani is the point from where you will get a Taxi Service to Devidhura, you can hire a Haldwani taxi service. Get into a Taxi and the way is to Bhwali Dhanachuli and then Devidhura, this will take around 4 to 4.5 hours to reach here.