Embrace the rich cultural heritage of West Bengal at the Poush Mela

The Poush in Poush Mela is referred to the Bengali month which arrives in the middle of the month of December. Poush Mela is actually the annual fair and festival organized in the land of Rabindranath Tagore, in Shantiniketan, in the Birbhum District, in the Indian State of West Bengal. This mela or fair is celebrated to mark the harvest season. The fair commences on the 7th day of the Bengali month Poush , the fair lasts for three days officially , but according to the university rules and regulations the fair vendors may stay up to the end of the month Poush. The beautiful and peaceful environment captivates the mind and heart of the people. The natural view of Shantiniketan and the baul singers gives you a typical countryside pure feeling.

This mela has a short background to how it was started. Rabindranath Tagore’s father Devendranath Tagore along with twenty followers accepted the Brahmo creed21stDecember 1843 (7th of the month of Poush in the year 1250) from RamchandraVidyabagish. A Brahma mandir was established on the 21st December 1891. A small fair was organised to celebrate the auspicious moment as an anniversary of the establishment of the Brahma mandir. This small homely fair started serving as a small celebration purpose, but now is of great attraction for the whole Birbhum District and also people from other cities and states of India.

Poush Mela was inaugurated on 23rd December or (7th of the Bengali month Poush).Shantiniketan wakes up early in the morning with a soft tune of shehnai. The fair officially continues for three days, but the university regulations says that the vendors may put up the stall till the last day of the month of Poush.

The Poush mela is inaugurated on the 7th of Poush, the Shantiniketan residents wakes up early morning to the soft music of shehnai. The Vaitalik group enters the fair first and goes around the ashrama singing melodious songs, playing tunes in their traditional instruments. After this, there is a prayer-meeting at the Chhatimtala , that is underneath the trees in an open ground. Then the people ofShantiniketan moves onto the Uttarayan while singing songs. PoushMelahas live baul music performances. Themela includes special attractions such as the folk songs, tribal sports and dances. The fair brings out the true Bengali cultural heritage of the state Bengal. The Shantiniketan student's present their immense talent by their graceful dance to rabindrosangeet, enhances the beauty of the fair.The fair is involved with different new activities daily, to add on to the enthusiasm of each day.

The fair on the starting day approximately 1500 stalls take part. This takes place in a huge spacious open ground; several tourists and nearby residents take part in the programmes. The three-day fair has about 10,000 tourists every year. The locals sell printed fabrics and handicrafts in the stalls set up during the fair. This mela offers you various interesting things to be bought. Starting from books, jewellery, handicrafts, traditional bags, dresses, ektaras, flutes, art works; they also have food stalls having famous traditional sweets and savouries.

The entrance has plenty of food and book stalls. TraditionalBengali sweets like Malpua, Jalebi are available at the fair stalls. There are also exclusive types of dishes like ChanarPayesh which a sweet preparation is made of cottage cheese, sugar and jaggery, Tilerkhaja is a mixture of thin wafers with flour and sesame seeds, Moa which is a balls made with puffed rice and jaggery, Patishapta which are thin pancakes stuffed with jaggery and coconut, also sold in the fair stalls. The stalls selling fast foods like rolls, parathas, chicken items, etc. remain crowded most of the time. Also stalls selling various kinds of homemade pickles are also available there. There are several book stalls at the fair. The popularity of the books authored by Rabindranath Tagore is far more than other literature books. Books on tribaland their literature are rarely available anywhere. One of the unique things found here in the fair are theMadhubaniand Patachitra artwork and designs. The experts in Madhubani artwork come from Bihar to sell their work in the fair. Batik printed designs is another famous formof artwork found in the kurtas, sarees, bags and other materials that are sold in fair.The Kanthar stitch is another set of outstanding work, done by threading beautiful, colourful and unique designs on a cloth or saree. The handicrafts made with mud and other materials, are also seen here. Wooden combs and showpieceetc are also common here. You may have an enthusiastic and refreshing stay at Shanti Niketan during the Poush Mela to enjoy and gain knowledge about the cultural and historical values of this area.

According to the Government Statistics calculation, Shantiniketan has about 3,500 visitors per day. In the times of certain festivals like the PoushMela, BoshontoUtsav, RabindroPaksha and NaboBorsho, the number of visitors increase in number and ranges to about 40,000 per day or maybe more.Many people even stay back after the events, in Shantiniketan which has about 85 lodges which could easily accommodate around 1100 people. Besides these rooms there are other rooms and cheap hotels affordable for you, available for rent.

You can reach the place from any part of the world as this place is open to all sorts of communication, whether it is by roads or railways. There are comfortable transports available here to reach your destination easily. The birthplace of Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore can be reached easily by both roadways and railways. The trains are available in this route every day to cover up the distance of approximately 160kms, from Kolkata.

You can reachShanti Niketan by both Bolpur Railway Station and Prantik Railway Station, both of which is in the Howrah Division. The place is well connected to Kolkata and can be reached by bus and trains.

Shantiniketan’sPoushMela is one of the popular cultural fairs in Bengal.Take a break from the urban lifestyle and cosmopolitan ambience of Kolkata in Bengal.