Minjar Mela (27th of July)

About Minjar Mela

Minjar Mela is a popular festival that takes place in Chamba, in the north Indian state of Himchal Pradesh. This year the Minjar Mela will kick start from the 27^th of July and will go on till the 3^rd of August. Literally, the term ‘’Minjar’’ means ‘’Tassels’’ and the term ‘’Mela’’ means ‘’fair.’’

Hence, in this festival, a lot of tassels are sacrificed in the Ravi River situated in Chamba, as a belief that doing so would drive away all the evil forces from the place and let everyone live at peace and harmony, without any trouble whatsoever.

The festival takes place on a grand scale, and the major attractions during the same are, the massive fair, lots of cultural folk programmes, food stalls, etc.

The origin of this festival dates back to centuries, wherein as per legend it is believed that at one point the Ravi River used to flow between the Hari Rai Temple situated in Champa and the Champawati Temple.

Due to this very reason, at that time the devotees found it extremely difficult to visit both these temples together because of the massive flow of the Ravi River.

Thus, it is said that the then king of Himachal Pradesh, to solve the issue, had asked one saint to do something that would make both these temples easily accessible to all the devotees without much hassle.

Therefore, the saint had performed a Yagya at the Champawati Temple here and a large number of Sadhus had participated in the same, which was also witnessed the then king of Himachal Pradesh and his followers.

It is said that during this same Yagya, the main saint had used a colored stick, which came to be known as the Minjar, and soon after that, the flow of Ravi River changed its course, as a result of which everyone could now easily visit both the temples without any problem.

Thus, this incident is still remembered fondly by all the devotees here during the celebrations of the Minjar Mela every year.