First Monday of Sawan brings festivities to Taj city
The remaining three fairs will be held on the remaining three Mondays at Balkeshwar, Kailash and Prithvinath Mahadev Temple
The first Monday of Shravan or Sawan month brought home festivities in Agra and the first amongst four fairs, organised at four Shiv Temples in the four corners of Agra, was held at Rajeshwar temple on Monday.
The remaining three fairs will be held on the remaining three Mondays at Balkeshwar, Kailash and Prithvinath Mahadev Temple.
Devotees began turning up at Rajeshwar temple in the wee hours of Monday with arrangements in place to manage the crowd. Devotees were allowed to move in queues with barricading done and policemen on duty. Chanting ‘Bam Bhole’, devotees, mostly women, carried offerings, including milk, water, fruits.
Although the fair was at Rajeshwar temple, the remaining three temples were decorated as well and those around visited them on the first Monday of Sawan. Festivities were not confined to the city, devotees reached Bateshwar, a site 70 kilometers from Agra city and a popular destination for religious tourism because of a series of Shiva Temples, once believed to be 101 in number, on banks of the Yamuna.
The tradition of the four fairs organised at four Shiva temples is said to be a tradition ongoing since time immemorial and on third Monday, it being the fair at Kailash temple on banks of Yamuna, is day of local holiday also recognised by govt offices including courts in Agra.
“The sequence remains the same every year. The series of sawan mela begins with the fair at Rajeshwar Mahadev Temple on the first Monday of Shravan. This is followed by the second fair, held at Balkeshwar Temple, the third at Kailash Temple and the fourth at
Prithvinath Mandir,” said Harihar Puri, priest at Mankameshwar temple, the most respected Shiv temple in the centre of the city where a fair is organised if Sawan month has five Mondays, as is happening this year.
Recollecting memories, a veteran journalist in Agra, Dr Neville Smith recollects, “There was no caste or religion barrier and the kanwariyas performing parikramas of the four Shiva temples used to cross the road near our house in Ghatia. We used to wait for them to offer them water and fruits. Not only the temples but the entire city used to be draped in festivities of Sawan. I remember, there was this popular myth that it did not rain on the Mondays of Sawan.”
“The month of Sawan is about rains lashing the city after the intense heat of May and June. These fairs add to the mood. The most popular fair has been the third one (held at Kailash temple on banks of Yamuna). In the past, residents used to travel to the temple located on the outskirts of the city, riding tongas and the road leading to Delhi used to be drenched in a festive mood,” stated Dr Smith, who has now settled in Saharanpur.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also turns active and entry to the monument of Sikandra (tomb of Mughal emperor Akbar on Agra Delhi Highway) is made free on the third Monday, when the fair is organised at Kailash temple.
Instead of Kanwariyas walking on roads carrying Ganga water, this month of Sawan is more marked by ‘Jalabhishek’ at Shiva temple by the Shiva devotees who walk barefooted a night before every Monday of Sawan.
However, the fair at Balkeshwar, sees maximum movement of these Shiva devotees, mostly youth, thus also termed Kanwariyas who move in groups on city roads during the night and reach the Shiva temple next morning.
There had been unpleasant incidents in the past involving these Shiva devotees getting into conflicts with those on the roads. In the past years, restrictions were imposed on these Shiva devotees from carrying batons.