Last November, I and my boss were thinking of taking our team to a picnic where we could enjoy. My boss suggested going to a known fair known as Vautha Fair. He asked us to collect the history and what goes on there. We collected its history.
The history of vautha fair goes thus:
The vautha fair is held at a place called Vautha where the two rivers-Sabarmati and Vatrak meet. This fair has mythological and religious importance. As per the story, this place was visited by Lord Karikeya. To honor him, this fair is held on Kartik Purnima during the Kartik Month near November for 5 days. The Vautha Mela is about 7 Km in its area. The famous temple of Siddhanath dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated here. It is said that there are 7 rivers mixed here with Vatrak river like ‘Meshvo, Hathmati, Shedhim, Majum and Khari’ before they meet the Sabarmati River. It is called as Saptasangam by local people.
Important attractions of the vautha fair.
When our team reached there, we had read some history. We were told by a local shopkeeper about the important attractions. We roamed the whole day, and found out what went on in the fair, and what the attractions worth seeing in the fair are.
The vautha fair is the only major animal trading fair in Gujarat. But we could see only donkeys here as they are the only animals that are traded. As per the local numbers and what we saw, there are about more than 5000 donkeys bought here for sale by the local tribe. Camels are also traded here in some area of the fair.
We saw that the local public was coming in tractors, bus, jeep, shared jeeps, unlike us who had come with our private car.
We saw many people stay in tents at the ground of the fair. We were told that it is a tradition for the people to camp here. There must be about more than 20,000 people who were staying in different tents on the river bank. We enjoyed eating the famous food of the fair called Khichu and Kachariyu which are sweet in taste.
The Daily scene at the vautha fair and shopping items
As is the norm of Indian fairs, the vautha fair also had handicrafts and other handmade items displayed for people to buy and shop. I purchased some handicraft items for my mother. There are also some good machinery items for sale along with lamps. We saw that people from Ahmadabad and other neighboring areas like Bhal and Kheda district had come to enjoy the fair. We were told to bath nearby the river which is supposed to purify our past sins. Who would waste this opportunity? We enjoyed our bathing at 11 am.
We saw the auction or selling of donkeys. Merchants had come here with their donkeys painted in different colors to be sold. They were shouting their rates for finding suitable buyers. We also saw the regular race of the donkeys. There were some parrots on sale along with fancy lights.
Evening time and travel back home.
After we had finished our lunch we rested in a local tent of a villager who had invited us in. It was almost evening before we decided to explore the fair once again. People were getting ready to gather by the river and perform worships and rituals. We started photographing people and their activities. At sunset, they lighted lamps and floated them in the river water with the flowers. The pictures taken of that sight were just great.
We decided to go back to Ahmadabad which was just 50 km from the Vautha fair. We went back early so that we can continue our office the next day thanking our boss. The fair will again be held on 17 and 18th November 2013.
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