Jauljibi trade was a religious fair earlier

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, November 13

Jauljibi mela, the trade fair held at Jauljibi town along the Nepal border in Dharchula subdivision for the past 144 years, actually began as a religious fair at the Kali riverbanks. It later took the shape of a trade fair as Tibetan traders started to come with their goods here.

The fair begins on November 14 this year and will be inaugurated by Chief Minister and local MLA Harish Rawat. “The fair was started by the then rajwar of Askot, Pushakar Pal, in 1871 after vitalising the statue of Jwaleshawar Mahadev at the sangam,” said KV Pal, a journalist based in Askot town of the district, the seat of rajwars.

KV Pal, who has written on the history of kings of Askot, said after the ground of Jauljibi was granted by the rajwars for mela use, traders from Tibet and Nepal started coming and soon the spot became a place for traders to exchange their goods for grains brought by farmers from lower valleys.

“Before the 1962 Indo- China war, the Tibetan traders used to come to the fair regularly. But after that, their entry was banned and only Indian and Nepalese traders used to come to the trade fair,” KV Pal stated.

Locals said the Jauljibi trade fair had evolved itself according to the demands over the years. While it began as a fair between Tibetan, Indian and Nepalese traders, it turned into a medium of getting winter outfits for lower valley villagers and recently, it started playing the role of a developmental fair where new government schemes are introduced to villagers of the remote areas and they get in touch with mainstream Indian political and social line through various cultural programmes and speeches of leaders who visit the fair.

“The fair played a significant role in recruiting local youths in the Army during the two world wars and even after that,” said Krishna Bahadur Pal (80), an ex- Army man from Bagrihat village near the Jauljibi town.