Gotmar a weird annual ritual in memory of two lovers
The festival is celebrated every year on the day after the new moon in Bhadrapad month of the Hindu calendar....
National | Bhopal | India  Updated On: 9/2/2008   [Total Votes: 199, Hits: 2254] Print

One person was killed and over 400 injured as villagers pelted stones at each other as part of an annual ritual in memory of two lovers in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, police said.Men from Pandhurna and Sawargaon villages, located on opposite banks of the river Jam in Chhindwara district, about 400 km from here, threw stones at each other during the festival known as Gotmar, which was observed Sunday.

The festival is celebrated every year on the day after the new moon in Bhadrapad month of the Hindu calendar. This year, several youths from Maharashtra also participated in the event.

Officials said the district administration had managed to contain injuries by urging the villagers to use rubber balls instead of stones. However, locals said that after initially using the balls, the villagers started pelting stones.

Chhindwara Additonal Superintendent of Police Amit Sanghvi said over 400 people had been injured in the festival and one of them, Gajanand, had died.

There are many stories about the origin of the fair but the most popular is that a youth of Pandura village was trying to elope with his lover from Savargaon when the residents of both the hamlets started throwing stones at each other, resulting in the death of the lovers. The fair is held every year in their memory.

At the end of the day, over 5,000 participants go to the temple of goddess Chandi, who the villagers believe heals their wounds. They apply sacred ash on their wounds and later visit the temple of Lord Krishna and his consort Radha.

Uttar Pradesh panchayat forces woman to ill-treat her lover [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 28, Hits: 257]
Unwilling to accept their love affair, an Uttar Pradesh village panchayat forced a woman to slap her lover with shoes and tonsure his head...
Muzaffarnagar | India
Updated On: 1/19/2010
Print: Read On...

Goodbye, Woman; Hello, Dolly! [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 30, Hits: 631]
An otaku who develops romantic feelings for non-living items "such as a pillow, video game character, or sex doll" is known more specifically as a 2-D lover...
Tokyo | Japan
Updated On: 12/27/2009
Print: Read On...

Lovers get steamy in clock tower [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 15, Hits: 647]
Two lovers have had sex in broad daylight in a clock tower above a busy junction in Sydney...
Sydney | Australia
Updated On: 11/25/2009
Print: Read On...

Laila-Majnu, the plant, a bestseller at Bihar fair [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 31, Hits: 1152]
A plant named after legendary lovers Laila and Majnu, who could only unite in death, is selling like hot cakes at a Bihar fair as a symbol of luck and prosperity for couples...
Bihar | India
Updated On: 11/16/2009
Print: Read On...

‘SMS can be divorce evidence’ [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 24, Hits: 537]
Text messages have long been accepted as official proof in murder and other criminal trials in France...
Paris | France
Updated On: 8/24/2009
Print: Read On...

Jackie Chan and The World’s Largest Sushi Roll [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 74, Hits: 2012]
Anything that is prefixed by the two words, “World’s Largest” piques curiosity...
Shanghai | China
Updated On: 5/4/2009
Print: Read On...

Tokyo’s cat Cafes: The new cat’s Meow! [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 429, Hits: 1449]
Already a city of highly diverse innovation, a new fad in dynamic Tokyo appears to be the cat café...
Tokyo | Japan
Updated On: 4/23/2009
Print: Read On...

Love guru seeks to woo voters hearts [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 81, Hits: 1554]
Matuk Nath Choudhary, who is standing in the Bihar state capital of Patna, is promising that, if he wins, lovers of all ages will be encouraged...
Patna | India
Updated On: 4/15/2009
Print: Read On...

Man writes lost love's name on postcards 1.4million times [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 146, Hits: 1747]
A man in Jharkhand has written the name of his lost love 1.4 million times since 1997...
Ranchi | India
Updated On: 2/9/2009
Print: Read On...

Zebra crossing for lovers [Vote Average: 3, Total Votes: 167, Hits: 1494]
A Chinese city has created a pedestrian crossing with a romantic theme...
Chengdu | China
Updated On: 2/4/2009
Print: Read On...

PRINT  TOP