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Celebrating Pathron Ka Mela in Himachal by pelting stones
by Nagendra Ranta

     Dhami (Himachal Pradesh): Hundreds of people from far-flung areas of Himachal congregate in Dhami village, 20 km from Shimla, and throw stones at each other during 'Pathron ka mela' (or, the stone fair), to follow an age-old tradition. During this fair, the youth from Halog, the erstwhile capital of Dhami, and neighbouring Jamog are divided into two groups, they then pelt stones at each other. "The stone fair started as a device to stop human sacrifice. The queen of Dhami directed that on the day following Diwali, people should hurl stones at each other. And when somebody gets injured and when he starts bleeding his blood is smeared on the idol of goddess Kali where the human sacrifice used to take place," says Raj Singh Kanwar, a 90-year-old villager. Legend has it that the ritual of stone-pelting was started by the King's family, only to end the then prevalent gruesome custom of human sacrifice at Dhami. After the festivities end, villagers also pay respects to a local deity, revered by most of the residents of Dhami.

     A similar festival is held at Gautampura, near Indore. The war, termed as 'Agniban Yudh' (or, the fire-yielding arrows' war) in local parlance, is fought fiercely by people of Gautampura and Runji. Armed with fire missiles they throw missiles at each other. The fire missiles are made of dry seeds of Hingot. The seeds are scooped and then slashed with explosives. It takes at least 21 days to dry up the seeds. One of the participants, Sanjeev Sharma said , " We dry the seeds ..then we take out all the materials that are inside and fill the seeds with explosives and then throw them at each other" The 'Agniban Yudh' is being held from time immemorial. Administration every year takes steps to minimize injuries to participants. A special medical camp is established to take care of the injured persons. "I have established this camp on my own and trying to serve people. Till now we have received about 50 injured persons out of which two seems to be in serious condition," says Dr. Pawan Jain. Many a times the local administration has launched campaign to create awareness against the game, but in vain. People here are of the opinion that they would continue organising it at any cost to preserve their tradition.
-Nov 5, 2005