People bathing on the banks of Ganga, Sonepur Fair

A kaleidoscope of human activity along the banks of one of the largest and most important rivers in the world - the Ganga or the Ganges! as you float down the river, you see young men shampooing their hair before a plunge into the river, women washing their clothes, boys and girls swimming around and dunking each other into the water, older men praying, older woman praying, fishermen sitting on their boats, people wandering by - the world living their lives! People are bathing on the banks of river Ganga. Sonepur is located in Saran district of Bihar, 22 km away from Patna, at the confluence of two mighty rivers, the Ganga and Gandak. The Sonepur Cattle Fair or Harihar Kshetra Mela is held on the full moon day (Purnima) of the Hindu lunar month of Karthik in Sonepur, in the Saran district in the northern part of Bihar. Till date, it is the biggest cattle fair of Asia. The fair continues for about fifteen days to one month.The month-long event is known as Sonepur Mela, is held in the month of November every year. A bath in the Ganga and puja at the Hariharnath Mandir here on the day is considered auspicious. According to local folklore Sonepur Cattle Fair revives the Gajendra moksha legend which is related to the Hariharanatha Temple in Sonepur. This mela is the biggest cattle fair in India. The Sonepur Fair is the only one where such a large number of birds are sold. A wide variety of animals and dogs are also brought to the fair for sale.Asia's largest animal fair takes place in Sonepur, In the northern Indian state of Bihar. Sonepur mela is held in the place called Sonepur which is in Saran district of Northern Bihar. Sonepure is approximately 35 Kms from Patna. Sonepur Mela is the biggest and most interesting cattle fair in India. Visitors can simply browse through the many market stalls or enjoy traditional dancing, carnival acts and regional food and drink. At the Sonepur mela one can buy almost anything from a needle to a sword , dog to an elephant. This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected].