CHITRA VICHITRA FAIR

Chitra Vichitra is the biggest Tribal festival in Gujarat. Every year the fair is celebrated in the month of March, fortnight after Holi, in Khed Brahma Taluka of Sabarkantha District. The main temple is situated on a picturesque site called the Triveni Sangam, the sacred confluence of the three rivers Sabarmati, Akul and Vyakul, amid the foothills of the Aravalis. The name of the festival is derived from the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is believed that Chitravirya and Vichitravirya, the two sons of King Shantanu (the king of Hastinapur), were once the residents of the town and used to cure people diseases by making them drink the water of this site. Every year a large number of locals and tourists from across the country attend the fair to experience the culture and grandeur. The fair is one of the most important fairs of the Adivasis in the region, and attracts thousands people, most of them hailing from the Garasia and Bhil communities. People from many far away and distant villages arrive on every imaginable mode of transport, ranging from jeeps to camel carts. The fair is so popular that all the houses from 25/30 surrounding villages take part in the fair. People come a day or two in advance in large groups and encamp under the banyan trees on the riverside.They spend the night under the sky by the side of small bonfires. The festival begins on a full moon night where all the women gather at the river front and mourn for their dead relative. The fair starts with full enthusiasm from the next day onward where local people dressed up with colourful attires. All the men generally wear blue shirt, dhoti, and red or saffron turban. While the women are decked up in ghagras along with heavy silver jewelry, and sometime also beautifully knitted raffia jewelry made from pale yellow or dyed crimson grass. One can see more than hundred stalls here; with a variety of sweets, handicrafts, and different kind of food items. Every groups visiting the fair carries their own drums; with the nonstop beating of drums accompanied by local customary dance, the atmosphere turns alive and cheerful. The vibrant fair is full of rituals and ceremonies, it worth a million dollar experience to be present in the fair.