By Sanjay Narad in Bhopal
Saturday, 30 August , 2003, 23:41
A centuries-old annual tradition of stoning has left a bloody trail yet again, with over 200 people sustaining injuries, four of them seriously, during the fair that is organised in memory of a lover couple near Pandura in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.
Men from the Pandhurna and Sawargaon villages, located on opposite banks of the river Jam in Chhindwara district pelt each other with stones during the festival known as Gotmar observed on Friday. Several youths from Maharashtra also participated in the event.
Despite several persons being injured in the annual event, the fair has not been banned and the district administration has not been able to bring amends in the method of celebration.
Though the district administration claimed it had managed to contain injuries by urging the villagers to use rubber balls instead of stones, locals said that after initially using the balls, the villagers resorted to pelting stones. What is shocking is that the district administration arranges for these stones.
Although there are many stories behind the origin of the fair, one has been accepted by everyone. According to the story, a youth of Pandura village was trying to elope with his lover from Savargaon on Amavasya night when the villagers of both the hamlets started throwing stones at each other resulting in the death of the lovers. The fair is held every year in their memory.
Some among hundreds injured every year have lost their eyesight, limbs and even their lives. In l989, when four men were killed, the administration announced some restrictions, but to no avail.
"Of what use is festivity that makes you to cry and moan in pain? Such barbarism in the name of a festival should be stopped at all cost," says a village official, A.M. Kurre.
Agreeing, Anil Sabre, a village schoolteacher, said "people should no more be allowed to shed blood of their brethren in the name of tradition." The tradition dates back hundreds of years.
At the end of the day, most of the 5,000 participants go to the temple of goddess Chandi, who, they believe, blesses them and makes their wounds heal quickly. They apply sacred ash on their wounds and later visit a temple of Lord Krishna and his consort Radha, so constructed that the first rays of the rising sun fall on the feet of the divinities' image throughout the year.
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