Unique Bissu festival celebrated after 35 years

Unique Festival, Bissu, was celebrated in Thangad village, located on a ridge between Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on Friday, in which hundreds of people from Himachal enacted the role of Kauravas while those across the other side of river Tons in Uttarakhand became Pandavas, fighting with bows and arrows and insulting each other through risque folk songs.



The bows and arrows incidentally are preserved in the temple of local deity Mahasu devta and passed on from generation to generation for use on Bissu day. Even the clothes people wear on the ocassion are unique, with men wearing 20 ft pyjamas rolled over and over to shorten them, and knee shoes to protect themselves from the sharp arrows.

Anthropologist Lokesh Ohri, founder president of the organization, 'Been There Doon That', who visited the festival, termed it a "highly spectacular and attractive event." "It's a pity that the tourism department could not publicise this colourful event where people dress up in wonderful costumes," he said.

Incidentally, the festival was being celebrated after almost 35 years. Elaborating on the reasons behind the long gap, Ohri said, "The festival is celebrated on each side of the river after every 24 years.

The day the palanquin of Chalda Mahasu, the local deity of the people of the Jaunsar Bawar community, reaches towards any side of the Tons river, the Bissu festival is celebrated. But the palanquin took a long time to reach Thangad as a temple for the diety was being built in Chiraji village of Sirmour district of Himachal on the other side which apparently took nine years to complete resulting in the festival also being delayed. "

Meanwhile, Jayender Dobhal, a local villager said that the festival was enjoyed by both sides. "Though both sides pull up each other while fighting, later they celebrate by dancing and sharing local sweets. They usually follow the guidelines of not hurting each other below the knees. Quite luckily, no one was seriously hurt this year, otherwise many people have become incapacitated due to injuries inflicted by arrows in past celebrations."