25-day Hariharkshetra fair opens today

HAJIPUR: Asia''s largest cattle fair, the Sonepur mela, will commence at the Harihar-Kshetra (Sonepur) grounds on Monday.
The 25-day-old colourful fair will get off to a glittering start with the lighting of the traditional lamp and singing of patriotic songs by PRDA artists.
Lakhs of devotees have already started assembling at the confluence of Gandak and Ganga rivers at Hajipur and Sonepur for the fair.They would take holy dip in the river on Kartik Poornima day (Monday) shouting ''Har har Mahadeo''.
They would pour ''Gangajal'' on Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu at the Harihar Kshetra temple. With this, the fair would commence.
The fair is held over an area of nearly 200 acres. Not just Hindus, but people from all parts of the country visit the fair.
The Saran district administraiton has made elaborate security arrangements for the fair. Huge makeshift pandals and stalls have already come up here. Theatre groups which have earlier been attracting visitors and cattle traders, have also started arriving.
The fair would continue till December 12 but official arrangements would remain upto December 20, said the Saran DM, Vaidhnath Mishra. In the annual ritual of the fair thousands of cattle are sold. Many stories abound regarding the mythological importance of the Harihar-Kshetra temple.
Hari (Lord Vishnu) and Har (Lord Shiv) are joined together in one form at the temple giving rise to joint worship of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. This gradually gave birth to the mela", recounts a noted scholar B K Pandey.
Another story narrates the liberaiton of an elephant (Gaj) from the crocodile''s (Grah) mouth at the confluence of Gandak and Ganga rivers. At this confluence, Lord Vishnu had to descend to save his devotee Gaj from the Grah.
The third legend dates back to the period of the Ramayana. Lord Ram had passed through Sonepur and Hajipur enroute to Janakpur to participate in Sita’s swayamvar ceremony.
"To remain above differences persisting between the Shaivites and the Vaishnavites, Lord Ram, as is believed, built the Hariharnath temple himself in which both the Shivling, chiselled out of blue coloured stone and the idol of Lord Vishnu were installed with due Vedic hymns and rituals", elucidated L P Hemant, a local scholar.
Some scholars, however, say that the fair was held at Hajipur and not Sonepur in the beginning. B K Pandey and T P Chauhan (secretary Gandak Ghati Civilisation Research Project) said that the fair was first held at Hajipur.
After some decades, the change in route of the rivers forced a change of venue from Hajipur to Sonepur, said both of them.
However, the Sonepur fair is losing much of its grandeur with each passing year.