Our trip in Kumaon, by Eric Longsworth

Jilling

Our trip to Jilling, near Nainital, was a welcome respite from the August heat. After a short hour’s walk assisted by a guide with a horse carrying our bags, we arrived at the main house, situated just below a long ridge, from which the view of the himalayas- when free from cloud cover- is said to be fantastic. There are other houses on the mountainside, but not many, and the overall feeling is one of a peaceful haven. After the hustle and bustle of the previous days, we were suddenly filled with the desire to just relax- to sit back and read, watch the birds, and take short walks through the forest and along the ridge. Our guide helped us to discover the local fauna and flora, showed us a temple on the ridge, and spoke of his nearby village. The food was excellent, the rooms clean and comfortable, and the mountain air wonderfully cool. We left Jilling feeling well-rested and serene.

Devidhura

The beautiful drive along mountain roads from Ramnagar to Devidhura took nearly seven hours. We arrived for the final days of the Bagwal festivities, and the small village was already bustling with excitement, people congregating from all the surrounding countryside. We walked along the main street, with shops and makeshift vendors’ stalls on both sides, to the site of the temple, built in and among huge boulders shaded by ancient cedars. There also were the « altars » where goats and buffalo had been sacrificed, and we watched magnificent himalayan vultures who had come to participate in the clean-up duty. We felt like we had travelled back in time to another era : there was a man-powered ferris wheel, and groups of people listening to singers and bagpipes, a myriad of colors and odors and sounds, and a constant movement around the temple, of obvious religious significance. All the while we were watching with fascination all this activity, we felt watched ourselves, being the only foreigners present.

In the evening we attended the traditional costumed dances ; the spectacle would continue until the next morning. Back at our hotel- one of few in Devidhura- little chance of sleep, however. The dance and music spectacle was being broadcast over loudspeakers on the street outside, and inside the hotel dozens of parties continued late into the night.

The next morning found us at the open area before the temple, for the Bagwal culminating event. Throughout the morning, throngs of people gathered around, sitting on grassy slopes, on rooftops and stairways, until the central area was surrounded by a mass of colors. Then the opposing teams of village men arrived, many with large bamboo shields, working themselves into a frenzy of adrenalin. Just as the clouds let loose a torrential downpour, a signal seems to have been given, and the opposing teams began lobbing large stones at each other. In another age, men were sacrificed at Devidhura, and the modern version of this tradition demands that blood must be shed. The sky seemed to be raining rocks for a short while (some falling on bystanders), and then suddenly it was over. The opposing teams dropped their stones and ran to embrace their opponents. The spectators dispersed quickly to get under cover from the rain, and all along the road leaving Devidhura we passed buses and trucks full of people celebrating what seems to have been a « victory » for all.