The Juna-gadh ( Old- fort ) is one of the ancient surviving city of India . Junagadh is situated under the Girnar & Datar hills; one of the most picturesque towns of Gujarat. The town was called Manipur,
Karnakubja, Raivata etc and at present, it is called Junagadh . It is deeply believed Lord Shiva & Lord Narayana took up their residence in the vicinity of Temple of Bhavnath & Lord Narayana as
Damodarraj near Damodar Kund . The town is known for its famous ancient rock fort, Buddhist caves, magnificent Jain temples, ancient step wells, Ashoka inscription, colorful religious festival etc. The
most famous Bhavnath temple is located at the foot of Girnar, is ancient & the origins are unknown.

The Bhavnath fair is held here for 5 days. The fair coinciding with the grandiose and very famous festival of Shivratri, Bhavnath fair, is dedicated to Lord Shiva .Thousands sacred naked saints (Naga
Sadhus ) do visit Bhavnath during the fair. The Naked saints come from various school of thoughts possesing common belief that the whole world is their home and they do not require any cloth on body. Nakedness was accepted as part of their way of life.

The Bhavnath Fair is one of the most colorful & vibrant event in many ways. The fair offers true color of the life style of sacred naked sages of different groups, they gather for a ritual involving a blend of dance and martial arts & the same time passionate and intense. Above all various colorful communities, tribes & devotees visit with gorgeous ornaments & handicraft wearing which captures the mind, eye & soul of any human being!

The fair conveys the message of richness of our true culture. The fair takes back to our ancient root, customs, practices, ritual, belief, and it offers insight of irresistible Gujarat. It is very rare & even to imagine. Gujarat is gifted with Bhavnath Fair of Junagadh !!!

Kumbh Mela is held once in 12 years. Thousand of foreign tourists book tents and all available accommodation for the festival in year advance, just to the get glimpses of the mystic saints & to see the life style of most sacred naked sages. The Bhavnath festival has potential to attract thousands of high budget foreign tourists. If Bhavnath fair is marketed correctly at the International tourism fairs and forums such as WTM, ITB-Berlin etc, it can become one of the other major International Fair for Gujarat.

On tourism front, the Government of Gujarat has made a serious effort to promote various destinations of state through events & festivals such as Navaratri, International Kite festival & Tarnetar fair etc. It could be one of the most successful fair of Gujarat & will be a huge attraction of its unique elements of rarity. This could be clubbed to visit other tourist destination of Gujarat.

The tourism professionals & related official bodies need to identify committed tour operators with the help of proper documents, who are working & promoting in these lines presently. There are 100s of travel agents just to sale air ticket, some out bound package tours and LTC tours of various states. This is the avenue that we need to seriously explore to identify the right people, proper foreign contacts with tourism boards & tourism associations and above all a proper marketing company that could handle public relations in many countries.
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The international print & electronic media needs to be galvanized. Special arrangements for foreign tourists to observe the event should be formulated. Also infrastructure including accommodation and seating arrangements should be developed, some where near the festival starting point. The state could attract many more thousands of high budget foreign tourists. Gujarat Is felt every where & running far ahead of most states in infrastructure, Industry development, safety , water management , best roads and education etc. Why not tourism? The Bhavnath fair has potential to become the future of tourism in Gujarat. What Sanjeevani was to Lakshman in Ramayana, Bhavnath fair could be to Gujarat in tourism sector!

Bhavnath fair will be held on 9,10,11,12(Shivratri) February in year 2010.

The observation mentioned are thanks to author’s 25 years of back ground experience in the travel industry of Gujarat with genuine interest of boosting tourism in the state. The author can be reached at pv.pavitran@gmail.com

Watch DeshGujarat video of Bhavnath Fair