Ugratara Fair concludes

By Our Correspondent 

Dadeldhura, Nov. 10: The annual religious fair dedicated to the Ugratara Goddess in Dadeldhura district of Sudurpashchim Province concluded on Wednesday this year.

The grand fair, which started on Tuesday and concluded on Wednesday, was held at the temple of Ugratara Bhagwati located at Amargadhi Municipality Ward No. 8, six kilometres away from the district headquarters. 

Tej Bahadur Sanki, chairman of the Ugratara Region Development Committee, told The Rising Nepal that more than 10,000 visitors from inside and outside the district came to the fair that the locals call ‘Dehijant’. 

Krishnananda Pandey, priest of the Ugratara temple, said that the fair concluded on Wednesday after a special puja was performed for the much-revered goddess.

Ward Chairman Nar Bahadur Sanki said pilgrims from all nine districts of Sudurpashchim as well as Uttarakhand and other border regions of India came to pray to the goddess every year during the two-day fair. Legend has it that once, when farmers from the Sanki community were ploughing their field, their plough got hit a rock which immediately started bleeding. 

Local Chhatra Prasad Joshi shared that the farmers tried to stop the bleeding by plastering the rock with the porridge they had brought to eat. 

This act of the farmers giving up their food to ‘treat’ an inanimate rock pleased goddess Ugratara and to show her gratitude, she appeared before them and blessed them.

“Since then, a fair has been held every year on the full moon day of the month of Kartik to show respect to the deity,” Joshi said.

People believe that visiting Ugratara at least once a year will protect them from natural disasters, bring happiness and prosperity and get their wishes fulfilled.