TARNETAR FAIR IS A FREE-FALL INTO A WHIRLWIND OF COLOURS, ROMANCE AND MUSIC

The Tarnetar Fair is a unique event - during these fair, young women from the Bharwad community and other pastoral groups of Gujarat meet to select their bride-grooms in a manner reminiscent of the Swayamawaras of historic India. Swayam wara was a practice of choosing a husband, from among a list of suitors, by a girl of eligible age.

It is believed Tarnetar was once the seat of power of Panchal Naresh Drupad. King of the Panchal region. In order to win the hand of Drupad's daughter, Draupadi, the suitor had to hit a fish's eye with a bow and arrow. This fish was just an image on a rotating wheel, which was rotating on a rod. The rod was placed in a pan filled with water. The many suitors had to pierce the eye with a bow and arrow aiming by means of the re-flection in the water. Arjuna won the hand of Draupadi in this Swayamwara, one of the most important events in the epic. Mahab-harata. According to another legend, the Ganges flew through this area before chang-ing course, the kund or temple tank here being considered as holy during the fair as the Ganga. This is also believed by legend to be the place where Brahma appeased Shiva with an offering of lotuses including a netra kamal which became his third eye, the reason this temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The fair Is set in the countryside near the Trineteshwar Temple, said to have been an ancient shrine. This temple was largely erected in the late 19th and early-20th cen-tury during the reign of the Maharaja of Baroda. The temple follows the traditional layout of an entrance portico supported by columns, an assembly hall and the main sanctum surmounted by a towering shikha-ra dome. During this fair, devotees gather for bhajans and tartans in the temple courtyard and crowd for darshan of the Shiva idol in the temple. The holy pond called the kund is the place for ritual bathing. The fair site near the temple teems with people arriving in colourfully bedecked bullock carts, jam-packed jeeps, buses, trucks and tractors. You can even see decorated horses and camels at this site. Since this is a betrothal fair, the youth of marriageable age come dressed at their most colourful. At a fair where women have the first choice, the Bharwad bachelor is quite a peacock, brightly dressed in an embroidered jacket called kediya, waistcoat called a lcabia or sleeveless jackets called handis with colourful peacock motifs and other patterns, round turbans with twisted plaits, waistbands, embroidered moidi foot-wear, and chunky gold and silver earrings, finger and neck ornaments, and chunky kadas on their wrists. Young women wear ghagra skirts with choli tops and odhnis covering their heads, all three pieces em-broidered and block printed in brilliant col-ours set with mirrors, and artistic silver or-naments on their ears, necks and toenails are characteristic of a Bharwad girl. The camels and bullocks are also gaily painted and decked up for the occasion with colour-ful reigns and canopied carts, and high qual-ity purebred Kathiavvadi horses can he seen at the fairground.

Many traditional customs continue right from the flag hoisted over the Trineteshwar by the Mahant of Pa'Wad, one of the Impor-tant priestly families of Gujarat's Kathiawad region that announces the start of the fair. The fairgrounds around the temple are crowded with people enjoying themselves on the ferric wheels, taking parts In compe-titions, and meeting others of their commu nity after years. Some of the groups seen during the fair are also nomadic or semi-nomadic. The eligible men sport umbrellas of richly embroidered and mirror-inlaid fabrics, with brightly coloured cloths hang-ing from them like tassels, a unique feature of the fair.

As the music reaches a crescendo, people break into traditional folk dances. At Tarn-etar, the most typical dance is the Hudo Raas popular with the Bharwads during which men and women pair up facing one another, clapping each other hands and beating the ground with their feet accord-ing to the heat, and this can get vigorous and attractive to watch as the group gets Into a synchronised rhythm.

As the fair progresses, you may see young women approaching prospective bride-grooms, talking to each other and probably deciding upon suitability of a match_ The final matchmaking will probably take place after the fair is over when the pairs who have met at Thrnetar when the families get involved to select the auspicious day and time for the wedding. If you find more information visit at http://www.swantour.com