“It is no more a Pashu Mela (livestock fair). Things have changed here. Now it is a cattle fair only in name,” said Guddu Singh, who owns a shop on the main road close to the Sonepur cattle fair.
For centuries, the Sonepur cattle fair has begun on the full moon day of the month of Kartik (November) at the confluence of the Ganga and Gandak rivers in Bihar’s Saran district. The month-long fair, which usually ends in December, has for long been billed as Asia’s largest cattle fair.
But Singh appears to be right as livestock today is missing from the fair, except a few dozen goats, dogs, cattle and horses. The vast swathe of private farmland (nearly 500 acres in area) that has been the site for the fair for decades, is now either occupied by Ferris wheels, different entertainment shows including those featuring dancing girls, theatres as well as big and small shops selling different items.
Mangru Patel, a resident of a village about 10 km from Sonepur, said the cattle fair is dying as it has turned urban in character. “It is no longer a rural fair. Today, it is like any other modern-day fair for entertainment, with shops selling garments, tractors, two-wheelers and household items. The buying and selling of cattle have come to its nadir as traders no longer bring animals.”
According to local folklore, the horses and elephants for Emperor Chandragupta Maurya’s stables were bought here. Legend also links it to Emperor Akbar, Robert Clive of the East India Company and Babu Kunwar Singh who fought during the 1857 revolt. Traders from west and central Asia would bring horses to the fair for sale.
A local government official associated with the fair, admitted that the number of animals, mainly cattle, buffaloes and oxen have dwindling year after year. Only goats, dogs and some horses were brought and sold. “This year too, the numbers were quite low. It is not a good sign for this cattle fair.”
It is true. Hathi Bazaar, Gai Bazaar and Ghora Bazaar, once the pride of this cattle fair, now have no elephants and only a few cattle, buffaloes and horses. They used to play host to hundreds of animals till the early 2000s.
There are no birds in the Chirya Bazaar. There is also no trace of animals like camels, donkeys, ponies, monkeys, rabbits, bears, cats and guinea pigs.
Randhir Singh, a local resident closely associated with the fair, said the main attraction was the magnificent animals — elephants followed by cattle, buffaloes, oxen and horses. With time and the arrival of mechanisation, the importance of oxen in agriculture has declined. The government first banned the sale of elephants under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 in early 2000. After that, few elephants were brought for display. “Now, there is no elephant. They were usually the most popular attraction for foreigners to visit the fair. How one can imagine this fair without animals like the elephant, the symbol of the Sonepur Pashu Mela and cattle and buffaloes?”
He recalled that there was a time when Haathi Bazaar, which was spread across a kilometre, used to attract hordes of elephant buyers and sellers from across the country. Till the 1960s and 1970s, more than 300 elephants were common during the fair that slowly start reducing and come to an end two decades ago.
According to official data from the Sonepur cattle fair, 13 elephants were brought to the Haathi Bazaar in 2016 only for display and not for sale. In 2015, about 14 elephants were brought for display and 39 in 2014. A decade ago, in 2007, about 77 elephants were brought to the fair. There were 354 in 2004, the last noted instance of their numbers crossing two-digit figures. After 2019, not a single elephant was brought for display following a tough directive from the government.
Ramzan Ali, a goat trader from Rae Barelli in Uttar Pradesh, who has been visiting Sonepur since the 1980s, said only goats are now making the fair count as a livestock event. “There are nearly a dozen goat traders like me who have brought goats for sale and our presence is saving the colour of this livestock fair.”
Manawar Ali, another goat trader from Rae Barelli, who has been visiting the fair for nearly three decades, said animals have been replaced by big and small colourful stalls of modern gadgets, tractors, garments, food items, utensils and artificial jewellery.
Abhay Singh, another resident, recalled that there was a time till the late 1990s when people from southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh used to visit the fair to purchase elephants. “All this has gone now after the government banned the sale and purchase of elephants and now not a single elephant is brought in the fair even for display.”
Singh, who runs a medicine shop, said the apathy of the state government is responsible for the downfall of the fair. “What hit it badly was the central government’s decision to ban the sale of elephants and bans on certain trades including buying and selling cattle for slaughter.”
Badrul Shah, who works for a horse trader, said unlike the past, horse numbers have dwindled. “This place is no more what it was earlier. The government’s policies have forced the end of Haathi Bazaar and Gai Bazaar. Only a few horse traders come with their horses. We have sold 5 out of 10 horses so far and are hopeful for a good response till the end of the fair on December 10.”
Upender Rai, one of six cattle and buffalo traders, expressed anguish over the government decision to ban the trade of cattle and buffaloes in the name of slaughter. “It badly hit our business. We are now dealing only in the sale of cattle for milk. It was wrong to ban trade in the name of slaughter.”
Ram Lakhan Yadav, who was sitting along with Rai, said the politics by militant right wing groups in the name of cow protection, badly hit the cattle trade. It was bad news for this famous fair.
Yadav said cattle traders from Punjab and Haryana no longer bring their animals for sale and farmers from Assam no longer come to buy high breed cattle and buffaloes, fearing police actions.
However, senior Animal Husbandry Department official Mukesh Sahay, who is also in-charge of the Sonepur cattle fair, said horses and goats have been sold in large numbers at the fair this year. But he admitted that few buffaloes and cattle were brought by traders to the fair this time.