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Sheetla Mata Festival |
Place
Rajasthan
Month
March
Significance
Devi Puja
The Sheetla Mata Fair in honour of the goddess of small-pox is held in all village and towns on Sheetla Ashtama day.
The biggest fair is held in March-April every year at Seel-Ki-Doongri, a village in Jaipur district. There is a shrine dedicated to the Mata on a hillock, locally called Doongri. The present temple is said to have been erected by Maharaja Madho Singh of Jaipur. The fair is attended by one lakh or more people.
Sheetla Mata is among the Puranic goddess and venerated all over the country. She is addressed differently in different areas. In U. P she is known as Mata or Maha Mai, in western India as Mai Anama and in Rajasthan as Sadh, Sheetla or Sedal Mata. The word 'Sheetla' comes from sheetal. The belief is that Sheetla Mata appears in the form of small pox to calm the sufferer after he had been afflicted with high fever.
This fair is also known as a fair of bullock-carts. The devotees of the Mata come from far and near in their decorated bullock-carts and the tinkling of bells tied to the necks of bullocks fills the air. The assemblage of these carts and their colourful occupants at the foot of the hillock crowned by the shrine is one of the memorable sights of Rajasthan.
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Rajasthan Fairs / Festivals Calendar 2008 :: |
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