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Friends, on 9th August 2025, on the day of Rakshabandhan, we went to Maa Barahi Devi Temple (Devidhura) with 10-12 friends. This temple is located in Champawat district of Uttarakhand, it is about 76 km from Almora and 45 km from Champawat.
"Devidhura" means - Mountain of Goddess, and the goddess to whom this holy mountain is dedicated is Maa Barahi Devi. This temple is considered one of the 51 Shaktipeeths and its religious significance is very special.
We left Almora in the morning and reached the temple after a journey of about 3 hours. Light rain on the way made the weather even more pleasant. As soon as we reached the temple, the colourful decorations, the crowd of devotees and the cheers echoing all around mesmerized the mind.
Friends, on the day of Rakshabandhan, a wonderful and thrilling tradition is organized in the Maa Barahi temple complex located in Devidhura. In this, two teams stand face to face and throw stones and protect themselves with shields. This unique event is called Bagwal Mela, which is also called Paashan Yudh or War of Stones.
This tradition, which has been going on for centuries, is considered a symbol of the grace, courage and folk culture of Maa Barahi Devi. During the fair, the echo of cheers, the beats of drums and the enthusiasm of the people make the atmosphere even more lively.
This battle of stones is played on four pillars:
1-Lamhgadia
2-chamyal
3- walig
4-Garhwal
Friends, I went to the people of the temple committee and they told me that a long time ago there was a tradition of offering human sacrifice to please Maa Barahi Devi in Devidhura. Every year, one member of the families of the four Khams was sacrificed in turn.
One year, the turn came for an old woman's family. She had no one except her little grandson. Afraid of sacrificing her grandson, she went to the feet of Maa Barahi and started doing intense devotion and penance of Maa Barahi.
Maa Barahi was pleased with her unwavering faith and compassion and she ordered -
"Now no one will be sent for human sacrifice, rather everyone together will offer blood equal to one human being."
After this, the villagers decided that on the day of Rakshabandhan, there would be a war of stones (Paashan Yudh), in which people of the four Khams would throw stones at each other and protect themselves with shields. Till enough blood does not fall on the ground, this war will continue, and this sacrifice of blood will be considered as a sacrifice.
According to local belief, no one ever gets seriously injured in this game, and those who get hurt consider it a blessing from Maa Barahi.
Since then, this unique tradition has been continuing every year in the form of the Bagwal fair till date.
NOTE - Friends, I have taken the information for this blog with the help of Google and from the old people there because this was a very old tradition.
Every team member has a different dress. They have a daliya type thing in their hands for protection which is made of bamboo wood. Only a few people have it in their hands.
Friends, by the time we reached there the weather had cleared and you must have seen it in the photos. The crowd was more than 10 thousand and we could not even find a place to stand. There was so much crowd, you must have seen it by looking at the photos.
These are photos of the temple which is made entirely of stones. It looks amazing.
Friends, there was such a huge crowd that many people were watching the fight from inside their houses. The ground in front of the temple was jam packed and so were the houses of the local people.
Friends, I asked for all these pictures from my friends. That day my phone was switched off. I am sharing these pictures with you, taken from different mobile phones.
All of us friends enjoyed the fair the whole day and in the evening we returned home with temple prasad. We did not eat anything the whole day. We were so engrossed in the fair that we did not even get time to eat. When we arrived in the evening, we ate food on the way. It became dark by the time we reached home, but this trip with friends will be a very good and memorable one.
Friends, on the day of Rakshabandhan, do come to the Bagwal fair held at Maa Barahi temple in Devidhura and enjoy this unique tradition.
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