look news india
Tarnetar Fair 2024: Than, Chotila, Muli area of Surendranagar district is considered as “Panchal”. Panchal is mentioned in Skandapuran and Padmapuran. With Surajdeval as the center, it is surrounded by Muli-Mandavarai in the east, Mahiku in the west, Sarmathak in the north and Chotila and Anandpar in the south. The area of this pargana is 196 miles.
The people here also call this Panthak as Panchal Desh. According to the mythological tale, the Pandavas had come to this land. It is believed that this region was called Panchal after the name of Draupadi i.e. Panchali. Arjun had caught fish here. The world famous Tarnetar fair is held in this region in the presence of Trinetreshwar Mahadev. This fair has the most importance in the Talpada Koli and Maldhari community of Panchal land.
Umbrellas decorated with silver embroidery, pearls, buttons, jewellery, turbans and handkerchiefs are the centre of attraction in the Tarnetar fair. Turbats and umbrellas are made and sent from one place throughout Saurashtra and Panchal Pradesh. Then in any village or town of Saurashtra, turbans are available from Bhai Bhai's shop in Thane in honour of any leader or actor. Bhayabhai's family has been preserving the legacy of this vanishing art from generation to generation. At present, Amitbhai Darji is carrying forward this legacy.
Amitbhai says about this, I am still doing this business to carry forward the legacy of my father Bhaibhai. In earlier times, turbans served as helmets, protecting men during war. I make two types of turbans, Darbari and Bharwadi. Hand work and machine work create the artistic design of the turban. It takes about a day to make one turban. I have turbans ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 2000.' Since turbans have special significance among Nanabhai Bharwad and Motabhai Bharwad, they buy turbans in large quantities. We have also made umbrellas along with turbans.' We have different India umbrellas like embroidery work, Aari work, hand India, Kacchi India, Zardoshi India. We bring umbrella hooks from outside and fit them ourselves. We manufacture large umbrellas ranging from 100 inches to full hall umbrellas.
He further tells that recently we have made a big umbrella with 350 meters of cloth for the swimmer fair. After working day and night, these umbrellas have been prepared in 25 to 30 days. Only the cost of hard work has been taken in making the umbrella. Considering it as a home fair, we did not have the feeling of earning money and have tried to preserve the folk culture. We have umbrellas ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 7000. 20 to 25 sisters are associated with me in this work. The umbrellas, tikas, hanging work is done by hand embroidery and stitching. Our umbrellas are in demand at many places. Our peacock umbrellas are a special attraction in Kerala, abroad, big temples and especially in the swimmer fairs.
Apart from this, Amitbhai happily says that, in IPL-9th all the players of Gujarat Lions including Suresh Raina, Bravo, James Faulkner, Ravindra Jadeja wore our umbrella, turban, stick, chain, coat. Kaun Banega Crorepati and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah have also got our umbrella. Our umbrellas and turbans go in honour of Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi Sir, Amit Shah, Sairam Dave, Arvind Vegda, Hakabha Gadhvi and most of the political leaders. We also gave a purse full to Sonia Gandhi. Thus, the colourful umbrellas with the distinctive identity of the swimmers have crossed the borders of the country and gained international fame.
