📍 Location: Renuka Ji, Sirmaur District, Himachal Pradesh
📅 Season: November (around Prabodhini Ekadashi)
A gentle, profound celebration of maternal love, spiritual penance, and water-bound sanctity
🕉️ The Legend – A Son’s Redemption, A Mother’s Return
The Renuka Fair centers around the legend of Parshuram, one of the seven immortals (Chiranjivis), who beheaded his mother Renuka Ji on his father’s command and later repented deeply. Myth holds that each year, on this specific day, mother and son spiritually reunite at Renuka Lake, where her essence resides in the water’s tranquility.
📖 Renuka Lake is believed to be the embodiment of Goddess Renuka herself, while Parshuram visits annually to seek forgiveness and offer homage.
🔱 Rituals of Reverence on the Water’s Edge
During the fair, rituals are filled with emotion and spiritual grace:
- Parshuram’s Procession: A palanquin of Lord Parshuram arrives from nearby Jamu Koti village, accompanied by chants, drums, and devotees
- Lake Circumambulation: The deity’s procession encircles the lake thrice—symbolizing penance, purification, and reunion
- Water Offerings: Devotees float flowers, coins, and lamps into the lake to honor Renuka Ji
- Temple Worship: The ancient Renuka Temple sees a surge of visitors offering milk, rice, and silk cloth to the goddess
Locals believe the lake glows with a rare peace during these days—as if the myth becomes moment.
🎭 Culture Woven into Devotion
The fair also celebrates regional Himachali heritage with quiet vibrance:
- Folk Performances: Nati and devotional music on platforms near the lake
- Traditional Plays: Enactments of Renuka-Parshuram legends by village youth
- Craft Bazaar: Local artisans display woolen shawls, woodwork, and religious tokens
- Cattle Fair: A legacy from princely times, where villagers buy and sell livestock in ceremonial spirit
🌾 Farmers often pray for fertility and crop success—offering seeds and grains to Renuka Ji with folded palms.
🍛 Feasting, Sharing, and Lakshmi’s Blessing
The fair overlaps with Prabodhini Ekadashi, considered auspicious for Goddess Lakshmi’s blessings:
- Langars: Organized near the lake, serving kadhi-chawal, halwa, and sattvik meals
- Sweet Offerings: Meethe chawal, batashe, and coconut prasad distributed by temple caretakers
- Local Delicacies: Vendors offer madra, siddu, fruit chaats, and warm milk infused with cardamom
Meals are shared freely—as acts of humility and devotion.
✨ Why Renuka Fair Resonates
This fair is more than ritual—it is emotion, ecology, and ancestry braided together:
- Celebrates maternal bonds and repentance
- Honors water as sacred medium and female spirit
- Preserves folk storytelling through gentle pageantry
It is one of Himachal’s most introspective and heartfelt fairs—a mirror of myth reflecting through mountain mist.
🧭 Plan Your Pilgrimage
To experience Renuka Fair authentically:
- Best Time: Mid-November (Prabodhini Ekadashi, check lunar calendar)
- Getting There: Renuka Ji is ~37 km from Nahan; buses and taxis available from Shimla, Solan, and Dehradun
- Stay Options: HPTDC Hotel Renuka, local guesthouses, and homestays near the lake
- Pro Tip: Attend the lake procession and evening aarti, when candles drift on water like prayers made visible
