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The largest of these Snan Jatras is held in Dhubri along the banks of the Brahmaputra in Assam. Every Snan Jatra has its followers. In Cooch Behar, the fairground in Panishala village, where the temple of Baba Gadadhar is situated, still receives its fair share of attention.
The temple compound is built in typical dalan architecture pattern with a large area in front of the sanctum sanctorium for pilgrims to gather. Associated images provide a glimpse of the congregation during the fair.
The Gadadhar Temple
The Gadadhar Temple
According to the oral tradition, this is the oldest fair of the Hindu Rajbongsi community in Cooch Behar. To believe the popular hearsay, a fair has existed on this location for at least eight hundred years. Bengali Hindu almanacs mention that visitors arrive here in large numbers from the adjacent districts of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and lower Assam. Barring tensions around the international border, visitors from Rangpur, Bagura, Mymensingh, Dinajpur and other districts of Bangladesh must have been frequenting this fair.
According to the almanac, the fair is held for three days. We visited the fair on the day of Ashok Ashtami (April 16, 2024). The Hindu calendar records this date as the eighth day of Shukla Paksha (moon in waxing phase). Legend connects the date to Lord Ram's worship of Shakti and his use of Brahmastra to slay Ravana. Hindu communities living along the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries in North Bengal and lower Assam observe Snan Jatra - pilgrimage for a holy dip - on this day to mark the occassion. A map of several Snan Jatras in North Bengal and lower Assam is available here:
The pilgrims visit the temple, perform puja at the sanctum and proceed to take their holy dip in the river adjacent to the temple. After performing their ablutions in the river, they eat chire & doi from the fair stalls.
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