Baneshwar Fair II – Amusements

19. Februar 2019

 

The Baneshwar Fair is mainly attended by tribals. The largest group are the Bhils, who make up around 50% of the visitors. They are mainly found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. They number 8 million in total. Bhil comes from the local dialect and means “bow”. They were originally nomadic hunters.

 

 

 

There are loads of stalls at the Baneshwar Fair where you can buy things. However, bows and arrows were rather rare. But there were a few sabre sellers and other stalls.

 

 

 

 

There were also quite a few other things where you could leave your money. There were several mobile photo studios.

 

 

 

I didn’t take a complete photo here. There was a bird perched in a box. Next to it were several envelopes. When someone gave money, the bird was let out and encouraged to pick out an envelope. The contents were then a prediction.

 

 

There were also plenty of tattoo parlours. They couldn’t complain about a lack of customers.

 

 

 

You could also find amusement and amazement at a magic show

 

 

 

And then there were a few more rides. I didn’t dare go on any of them. What you can’t hear in the pictures is the volume. They all had market criers and insanely loud boom-boom music.

 

 

So religiosity and shops and entertainment – and is anything else missing? Yes! Cultural things. That’s in part 3!