That day my brother Gotmar had gone to visit the fair. When people from the other side of the river started throwing stones, one stone hit the brother's leg. He fell into the river. He kept asking for help to save his life, but people still continued pelting stones at him.
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Brother knew how to swim, but the flow of the river was fast. That's why he couldn't leave. He kept writhing and died. He has a one year old son. Whose father's shadow was snatched away from his head. This Gotamar practice took away my brother.
Saying this, Vishnu Lende of Pandhurna could not stop himself and started crying. After some time, wiping his tears and controlling himself, he said – Gotmar Fair should end. Some unruly people want this fair to continue, but there is a danger to life in it. Therefore, all traces of this fair should be erased. The administration and the municipality throw stones for pelting stones in the Gotmar fair.
This time the story in Blackboard is about Pandhurna village, about 265 kilometers away from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh and adjacent to the Maharashtra border, where many people have died so far in the Gotmar fair.
This village of Chhindwara district is very peaceful like any ordinary village. The people here are farmers who cultivate orange, cotton and oilseeds. Being on the border of Maharashtra, most of the people here speak Marathi. This simple looking village is famous not only in India but all over the world. The reason is the bloody game of stone pelting played here, which is named Gotmar.
In Gotmar, people from both sides of the river throw stones at each other.
This almost 400 year old tradition takes place every year on the Jam River of Pandhurna on the Amavasya date of Bhadra Paksha, the next day of Pola festival.
Bulls are worshiped in Pola festival and on the second day, people of Pandhurna and Sanwar villages shower stones on each other throughout the day. In which hundreds of people get injured and some even lose their lives. To know the answer to why people play this game even after getting injured, I Poonam Kaushal has reached Pandhurna village.
After reaching Pandhurna, I first went to Jam river. Where the bloody game of stone pelting is played. I was surprised to see the jammed river that how can someone die by drowning in this river which has no water. That river has now become a drain.
Near this river I met 63 year old Anil Thambare. There were deep marks on the face. When I asked by gesture, he said, 'All my teeth are fake, my jaw is broken.' Now the jaw is steel plated. On the instructions of the police, Gotmar had gone to stop me, people also pelted stones at me.
63 year old Anil Thambare's elder father also died in the Gotmar fair.
I asked, is Gotmar fair held near this river?
Anil said, 'The river is filled to the brim with water when a fair is held. Many times the river water flows over the bridge. Even if a person gets hurt and falls into the river, people do not stop throwing stones at him. People do not even give him a chance to come out or pull him out of the river. Then they throw stones until he dies.
Anil says, 'Many people have lost their lives in this fair. My elder father also died in Gotmar. I saved the lives of four drowning people from this river, for which I also received the President's Award. In earlier times, people used to sit together around the river and symbolically throw stones at each other. There was no loss to anyone in this and it was completed on time. With the passage of time, the form of this fair also changed and now people do not stop pelting stones at someone even after his death.
If someone falls, instead of picking him up, they intensify the attack. People now play Gotmar with a sense of revenge.
Anil says, 'The organization of Gotmar should be stopped. There is blind devotion in it, the fair can be celebrated even by just performing puja. People are being drugged and fed in this fair. Last year one of my neighbors died, who had a one year old son. What did he get? People here think that 364 days are for the police but one day is ours. Even the police do not come near the river on the day of Gotmar.
There is a fight between the two sides over the flag placed in the middle of the river.
Anil says, 'On the day of Gotmar, Pandhurna is converted into a police cantonment, but the police do not come where the Gotmar fair is held. Leaders encourage people to play Gotmar for vote bank, but never come themselves.
There are many stories related to this fair in which the story of a loving couple is heard from the people. Dr. Shankar of the village considers it a legend. Still he says, 'Once upon a time, a girl from Sanwar village had fallen in love with a boy from Pandhurna village. The family members were not ready for their marriage. They got married with great difficulty. After the farewell, the procession reached near the Jam river. Then there was a dispute between the two parties on some issue. Both started throwing stones at each other. The bride and groom were standing in the river, both of them die. Somehow an agreement was reached between both the parties and the bride and groom were brought to the temple of Maa Chandi.
Dr. Shankar says that there are some other stories too like – 'Both the bride and groom had reached Pandhurna safely. Some people say that on the night of Amavasya the boy and girl were brought away. Since then, Gotmar is held every year to commemorate this event.
Anil Thambare explains the history of Gotmar that, 'In earlier times, a game was organized at this place between the Gond and Jat kings. Here a goat was tied and the side that could carry the goat would win. There used to be stone pelting on both sides, that is why it was named Gotmar.
Now I reached Chandi Mata temple of the village, from where the fair started. The local people have unwavering faith in this temple. When I went inside the temple, I met 38 year old Manoj Gurve who has been associated with this temple for the last 24 years.
Manoj says, 'People who get injured in the Gotmar fair come to the temple and perform havan. This gives them relief. Gotamar starts after hoisting the flag near the Mata and the fair concludes after bringing the flag back to the temple. Every year 300-350 people get injured in this fair. Some even suffer serious injuries. I too got hurt this time and needed five stitches, but I got cured quickly after applying Bhabhut. Injured people are often intoxicated. By making people aware, the form of this fair should be changed while maintaining the tradition.
While talking to Manoj, his mother Lalita said, 'When the son got hurt on his face, many doctors refused to treat him. When taken to Nagpur, the doctor told about operation. As soon as the bandage was removed from the face, the wound was healed. Everyone was surprised to see this. I understood that this is a miracle of Chandi Maa, but this practice should be stopped. People throw stones at each other after drinking alcohol which is wrong and should not happen.
After leaving the temple, I went to talk to the people of Sanwar village. I met Prabhakar Daulat who has been playing Gotmar since 1995.
Prabhakar says, 'His jaw got injured during stone pelting and his teeth were also broken, but it is our compulsion to participate in this because there are three wards in Sanwar village and 30 in other villages. In such a situation, we have to play to support the village and save ourselves. Two people from our locality have also died.
Prabhakar Daulat of Sanwar village says that he is forced to play Gotmar.
Prabhakar says that earlier 1500-1600 people used to get injured in this. Now this number has decreased. Our entire locality wants the Gotmar Fair to be closed.
When I asked him about the relationship between the two villages, he said, 'There is no enmity between the two villages. One has to come and go throughout the year, it is just a one day game. They want to take the flag and we plant it. The very next day of Gotmar fair, the relations between the two villages become the same as before. Now we do not want our children to play this. Some people throw stones tied to a rope which goes very far. This is called secrecy. This hurts very badly.
Prabhakar tells the second story of the historical belief of this fair that, 'Chandi Mata is the family deity of the tribals. Earlier, man was sacrificed here, but to stop the tradition of sacrifice, stone pelting started and it has been going on like this since then.
Now I reached the house of Vishnu Lende of Pandhurna, whose brother had died last year.
Vishnu Lende's brother died in the Gotmar fair.
Vishnu Lende tells that, 'He was hit by a stone in the fair and fell into the river. No one came to save him. Sobbing, he says, 'Like common people, he too had gone to the fair, but he died on the spot after being hit by a stone near the flag. Nearby is the house of Gangadhar, who lost one eye because of this fair.
After talking to Vishnu, I reached Gangadhar Chaudhary's house.
Gangadhar Chaudhary was hit by a stone in his eye in Gotmar.
Pointing towards his eyes, Gangadhar says, 'While playing Gotmar, a stone hit my eye. That eye had to be removed. Now he can see less than the other eye. Because of this I am unable to do any work. The children are married. I work as a laborer to feed myself.
Gangadhar tells that 'My teeth were broken in the first Gotmar fair, but my eye was broken the second time.'
I asked why did you go to Gotmar the second time when your teeth broke the first time?
He was drunk and left. How can one understand anything when drunk? Nowadays boys are also like me. In the intoxication of youth, boys like to play these games, but with advancing age they realize what they have lost.
To know the opinion of women on Gotmar, I talked to Rita Prabhakar of the village.
Rita Prabhakar of the village says- Due to Gotmar fair, people's houses are getting ruined.
Rita says, 'Gotmar fair is held for a day, but it leaves wounds lasting years. People start drinking alcohol three days before the fair and under the influence of this, they are not even aware of what they are doing.
The children of the new generation are getting spoiled because of the fair. Children of 10-15 years of age are also drinking alcohol in the name of fair. People's houses get destroyed. Therefore, this fair should be ended and some other game should be organised.
Gotmar reached the government hospital in Pandhurna to get information about the health system during the fair. Here I met CBMO Dr. Deependra Salame.
CBMO says that four of our teams remain at work during the Gotmar fair. In which two teams live in Sanwar and two teams live in Pandhurna. There are 12 people in a team. In which 4 doctors, 4 technicians and 4 dressers live. About 300 people were injured this year. Of these, 8 were seriously injured. Most people suffer head, eye and abdomen injuries. No one died this year. Last year, one person died due to drowning.
When we tried to talk to the local police administration about this, they refused to comment.
Vinay Kumar Sambare, who has been the vice-president of Pandhurna Municipal Council, says, I have been seeing this for 70 years. This is a fair of stupidity, I raised my voice several times in front of the administration to stop it.
Vinay Kumar starts reciting his poem written on Gotmar fair.
Gotmar unique fair
We saw the unique Gotmar fair in the world in Pandhurna Nagar.
How to write this unique fair of happiness in the history of Pandhurna?
What happiness did it bring…
This fair of stone pelters came to demand sacrifices with happiness.
Till now everyone I talked to wanted to stop it, but Rajesh Pandurang of the village had a different opinion.
Describing Gotmar as a world famous fair, he says, 'After the worship of Chandi Mata, the game of Gotmar takes place. The flag that is placed in the middle of the river is the symbol of the fight. People consider it a fight for identity and play this game wholeheartedly. There are injuries in every sport so there will be injuries in this too, but till date no one has died due to this. I also play myself. Some people fall into the river due to intoxication and when the flow is strong, they die.
62 year old Maratha, living in Sanwar village, is the person who is the most important link of this Gotmar fair. For generations his family has been cutting palash wood from the forest for flags. When I asked for how long will he do this work, he says, 'I will continue to serve as long as Chandi Mata wants. Our job is to hand over the flag to the people of the village after performing puja. This time I had refused to bring wood, but had to bring it under pressure from the administration and the villagers. Because of Chandi Mata, there is no disease in our country and sacrifices will have to be made to the Mata.
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1. To take revenge, I married a terrorist: The bodies of my son and husband were burnt in the furniture, sister-in-law went mad.
2. Became blind after drinking alcohol: It would have been better if he had died; What can be more painful than not being able to see my own daughter?
Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets | NavBharatTimes
