FairGujarati · Hindu
Bahucharaji Mela
Next date
Tuesday, 20 April 2027
- Tithi at sunrise
- Full Moonuntil 03:57 next day
- Nakshatra
- Chitrauntil 04:28 next day
- Lunar month
- Chaitra
- Sunrise
- 06:14Sunset 19:03
In short
Chaitri Purnima at Becharaji, the shrine that has been a home for people the rest of the country had no place for.
The story
Bahuchara Mata stands at Becharaji in Mehsana, riding a cock. The story kept about her is of a Charan woman attacked on the road who cut off her own breast rather than be taken, and cursed her attacker to impotence unless he lived as a woman and worshipped her. That curse is why the shrine became, and remains, the presiding temple of the hijra community across India - who come to it as their own, not as visitors.
Why it matters
One of the very few places in the Hindu calendar where a community pushed out everywhere else has a temple that is theirs by tradition rather than by tolerance. On Chaitri Purnima that is visible.
This text has not been checked by a reviewer yet.
Tithi Calendar on your phone
The panchang for your own city, with the choghadiya, festivals and reminders. It works without the internet.