Tradition · maize-shoot fair · India
Minjar Fair, Chamba
A week in Chamba each Shrāvana, named for the minjar — the tassel of the flowering maize — which people wear as a silk ornament and then throw into the Ravi on the final day, along with a coconut, a rupee and a seasonal fruit, as an offering to the river. It is said to commemorate a tenth-century victory and the river changing its course, and it is the fullest surviving festival of the Chamba hill state, with its own flag raised over the Chaugan ground.
- Function
- Arts & performance
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 32.556, 76.126
Worth knowing
The minjar is worn for a week and then drowned: the ornament is made to be given to the Ravi, so the festival's central object exists in order to be thrown away.
Connections (1)
- In the same set asHarela
Two Himalayan festivals of germination, in adjacent hill states, both about the first green of the monsoon. Harela in Kumaon sows seven grains in baskets indoors and cuts the pale shoots ten days later to wear and to give to elders. Minjar in Chamba takes the tassel of the flowering maize, wears it for a week as a silk ornament, and drowns it in the Ravi with a coconut and a rupee. One grows a crop in order to bless with it; the other grows one in order to give it to a river.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Chamba, Himachal Pradesh” and “Minjar Fair”. Himachal Pradesh language and culture department records.
Open Minjar Fair, Chamba in the repository →