Tarnetar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tarnetar is a village in the Surendranagar district of the state of Gujarat in India.
Nearest airport (national) is Rajkot (90 km away) and international airport is Ahmedabad (200 km away).
Tarnetar is famous for its fair popularly known as the Trinetreshwar Mahadev Mela held near the Trinetreshwar Mahadev temple. Villagers from all over the region, dressed in their colorful traditional costumes and exquisite jewellery throng Tarnetar during this fair. About 100,000 people belonging to various tribes like Rabari, Kathi, Charan, Bharwads, Koli and other castes come to the fair. The fair attracts a large number of tourists from India and abroad also.
It is to be held on 27 August to 30 August in 2006.
The fair is also a kind of match-making event. Tradition holds that if a girl stops to talk to one of the men, it is a sign that she has found the man of her choice. Then the elders of both the girl's and boy's family meet and decide about their choices.
The Fair is also known for various dance and village-sports competitions. The competitions include the horse cart race, bullock cart race and camel race, along with cultural competitions such as rass (Gujarati dance) competition, doha (poem recitation) competition and umbrella decoration competition.
Tarnetar is a little village situated near the city Than or Thangadh.
Legend
According to folklore it was here that the Pandava prince Arjuna pierced the eye of the fish rotating at the end of a pole by looking at its reflection in the ponds water to win the contest arranged to find a suitable match for princess Draupadi. This event is mentioned in the Indian holy book of Mahabharata.
