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Bhopal, 03 September (HS). The famous Gotmar fair will be organized today in Pandhurna district of Madhya Pradesh. Here a bloody game will be played in the name of tradition on the Jam river between the people of two villages Pandhurna and Sawargaon. Here both the sides will follow the tradition of throwing stones at each other. More than 500 people are injured in this fair every year. The district administration has issued prohibitory orders to protect human life during the Gotmar fair, and a large number of police forces have been deployed.
Pandhurna Collector Ajay Dev Sharma said that “Strong security arrangements have been made for the Gotmar fair. More than 600 police personnel from four districts have been deployed. Temporary hospitals have also been built. Special arrangements have been made to ensure that the Gotmar fair is held peacefully as per tradition and customs and there is no trouble in the fair. The people of Pandhurna-Sawargaon have appealed to everyone to play the Gotmar fair peacefully.
Actually, the Gotmar fair is held every year on the second day of the Pola festival in the Krishna Paksha of the Bhadrapad month. During this time, people from both the villages follow this tradition by pelting stones at each other from both the banks of the Jam river flowing between Pardhuna and Sawargaon. Today, this fair will begin after the people of both the villages pay obeisance at the temple of Goddess Chandika.
The tradition of Gotmar fair is said to be about 300 years old. No one knows exactly when this fair started, but there are legends behind the tradition of celebrating it. In which the story of the love couple and the war practice of the soldiers of Bhonsla king is linked to the beginning of the fair. According to a legend, a boy from Pandhurna fell in love with a girl from Sawargaon and then love blossomed between the two. Both of them got married for love. One day a boy from Pandhurna reached Sawargaon with his friends and was taking his girlfriend away after eloping with her. When both were crossing the Jam river, the people of Sawargaon reached there and then started pelting stones on the lovers. In protest against this, the people of Pandhurna also pelted stones.
Soon, stones started raining from both the banks of the river flowing between Pandhurna and Sawargaon. In which the boy and the girl died in the middle of the river. After the death of both, the people of Pandhurna and Sawargaon realized their mistake. So the people of both the villages took the bodies of the lovers and placed them in the temple of Maa Chandi and cremated them after performing puja. From then onwards, this bloody game started in the name of tradition, which is going on till date.
In this game, a palash tree is planted near the bridge in the middle of the river as a symbol of the loving couple and a flag is tied on it. A bloody Gotmar is played between the two sides to break the flag of this tree. The side that breaks the flag first, wins. That flag is offered in the temple of the revered goddess Maa Chandika and with this the Gotmar fair ends. On the other hand, another story is popular that the army of Bhonsla king used to stay in the Pandhurna-Sawargaon area on the banks of the Jam river. For war practice, the soldiers used to put a flag in the middle of the river and compete in stone pelting. The war practice continued for a long time. After which it became a tradition of Gotmar fair.
The district administration has been trying for years to stop the Gotmar fair in compliance with the orders of the Human Rights Commission and the High Court, but all efforts have failed. In 2009, the Human Rights Commission tried to stop the stone pelting during Gotmar. The then collector Nikunj Shrivastava and SP Manmeet Singh Narang deployed police force to stop the stone pelting and brought the main flag of the fair to the Chandi Mata Temple, which led to anger among the people. This led to vandalism at many places. People angry with the administration reached the playground and pelted stones.
In an attempt to reduce the number of injured, in 2001, players were urged to play with rubber balls. Stones were removed from the playground and rubber balls were laid. Initially, players threw rubber balls at each other, but after noon the fair reached its peak and players dug out stones from the river and started throwing them at each other. In 1978 and 1987, the administration had to use tear gas and fire bullets to remove the players from the playground.
So far 14 people have died
So far 14 people have died in this Gotmar fair. Mahadev Sambare in 1955, Devrao Sakarde in 1978, Laxman Taywade in 1979, Kothiram Sambare in 1987, Vitthal Taywade, Yogiraj Chaure, Gopal Chalne and Sudhakar Hapse in 1989, Ravi Gayki in 2004, Janardan Sambare in 2005, Gajanan Ghuguskar in 2008 and Devanand Wadhale in 2011 lost their lives in Gotmar. In this Mahadev Sambare, Kothiram Sambare and Janardan Sambare belong to the same family. Gajanan, son of Girjabai Ghuguskar of Jatba ward died in Gotmar in 2008.