FairGujarati · Hindu
Madhavpur Mela
Madhavrai no Melo
Next date
Thursday, 15 April 2027
- Tithi at sunrise
- Waxing Ninthuntil 13:21
- Nakshatra
- Pushyauntil 09:33
- Lunar month
- Chaitra
- Sunrise
- 06:18Sunset 19:01
In short
Five days at Madhavpur Ghed for a wedding: Krishna and Rukmini, married on the beach where she was brought.
The story
Rukmini wrote to Krishna asking him to take her before she could be married to Shishupala, and he came for her. Madhavpur, on the Saurashtra coast near Porbandar, is where tradition says the wedding was held, and the fair does it again: from Ram Navami a maandvo is raised, the fera are performed, and the ghodiyu - the groom's procession - goes down to the beach. Since 2018 the fair has been kept jointly with the north-eastern states, on the strength of a telling that places Rukmini's Kundanpur in that part of the country.
Why it matters
Almost no Hindu festival re-enacts a marriage over several days with the whole town as the wedding party. This one does, and the deity is a bridegroom rather than a king.
What people do
The maandvo goes up on the first day and the fera are on the fourth. The procession ends at the sea.
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