Tarnetar Fair in Gujarat

Gujarat, holds an artistic, cultural, social and natural heritage of inestimable value and being able to discover it during the three different festivals is a unique and all-encompassing experience.

Every year, between August and September, it is possible to participate in both the Tarnetar No Melo near the sacred sanctuary of Tarnetar, where the Bharwad ethnic boys can show off in their best clothes, and the Ravechi No Melo, the fair of the mythical Rabari nomads that gathers thousands of devotees.

Tarnetar in Gujarat is home to the most beautiful festival, called Tarnetar Mela. The fair encompasses a large part of Tarnetar village. The fair is organized during the 4th, 5th and 6th day of the month of Bhadarva sud as per the Hindu calendar. This happens sometime around late August to early September.

The Tarnetar No Melo fair in Gujarat is one of the oldest in India. The first records of this festival date back to the late 18th century. For at least two hundred years it has been held in front of the Triniteshwar Mahadev, the temple of the three-eyed God.

Today it is above all a folklore event that attracts tourists every year to listen to the music of the bhajan mandlis, the religious bands. Women wearing tribal jewelry and colorful costumes perform various dances. In the rasadas hundreds of girls dance, forming a single circle, to the rhythm of four drums and a row of double flutes. In the raas the dancers hold a stick that, as they advance and retreat, they beat rhythmically against that of the women facing them.

The Tarnetar fair was once an opportunity for men of the Gujarati tribes to find wives. As evidenced by the circular dance of rahado, in which women wear different costumes depending on their marital status: the black skirt indicates that they are married, the red one that they are free and looking for a husband.

The fair includes rides, food stalls and a handicraft market with silver jewellery, blouses, skirts and other fabrics with hundreds of small mirrors and statuettes of Hindu deities sewn into them.

Tarnetar festival is a celebration of engagement: an opportunity for the boys of the Bharwad ethnic group, one of the herder groups living in Saurashtra, the Kathiawar peninsula, to show off in their finest attire and for the girls to find a groom. In the old days, the men would sit under beautifully embroidered chhatris (umbrellas) for the women to admire and choose their favorite.

If the engagement was arranged, the new couple would take a tour of the fair in the shade of the chhatri held by a godfather. Today the festival, which has become popular and with a large turnout of exclusively local audiences, has lost some of the authenticity of the past, but it still remains an interesting event to get closer to the colorful folklore and the still alive local traditions.

For the occasion, various competitions are organized such as the ox-drawn cart race, with splendid animals decked out for the occasion that pull characteristic two-wheeled carts covered by colorful canopies, or even horse shows, with riders who ride agile horses bareback, showing an innate elegance and engaging in races and acrobatics. There are also singing and dancing shows. The performances begin with long invocations to Ganesha to bring good luck and prosperity.

Many stalls are set up at the fair to sell beautiful local handicrafts that are not available elsewhere. The stalls also incorporate a lot of ethnic jewellery, statues of deities and traditional attire with small mirrors embroidered on the clothes and many more.

The Trinetreshwar Mahadev Mela is a vibrant affair. From ethnic Gujarati costumes to folk dancing to music and sparkling jewellery, everything is part of the fair. A cattle exhibition and an event called Rural Olympics along with bullock carts and horse racing give it a picturesque appeal.

When in Tarnetar, you can visit the Trinetreshwar temple that dates back to the Solanki era. The temple is a fine example of art and sculpture in the Gurjar Pratihar style. However, the location of Tarnetar has legends associated with it.

One is that Arjuna participated in a Swayamvar to win Draupadi and performed a brilliant feat of archery. Just by looking at the reflection of a fish in the water, he aimed his bow and shot at the eye. Just to celebrate its glory, this festival is celebrated.

But the story continues. Arjuna was the first to seduce the most beautiful woman thanks to his gifts. Since then, men have had to show courage to conquer the hearts of women. Dressed in their finest finery, the gentlemen challenge each other in various competitions: horse racing, camel racing, dancing, archery. At the end of these demonstrations, the women choose the chosen one of their heart. The strongest is generally the most coveted and must reject some of them.

Many members of the Bharwad tribe get married at the ancient Trineteshwar temple, dedicated to Shiva, which is surrounded by three tanks whose waters are considered sacred.

During the festival, young men dress up in the finest ethnic dresses made up of colorful dhoti, heavily embroidered vests, and turbans and girls dress up in the finest traditional ghagra cholis embroidered with mirrors and sequins. You can visit all the stalls at the festival and indulge in some local delicacies. Post all the fun and madness, stay overnight in tents at the fair grounds.

After spending the night at the fairground, you are surely fully energized for another round of madness. Have a hearty breakfast at the mela and continue exploring the immaculate fair some more. You can see multiple types of dance forms performed during the festival and the most famous of them is the dandiya raas.

Get to know the dance and see all the men and women beating small lacquered sticks at a pace that quickens until it finally breaks into a frenzy. Apart from dandiya, you can also enjoy the Rahado dance, which is a circular folk dance performed by the Rabari women of nearby Zalawad.