Rains take the mojo out of annual war of stones

HEAVY rains and consequent swollen rivers causing casualties and loss of human lives are not new.

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However, in Madhya Pradesh's largest district, Chhindwara, continued rains and a swollen Jam river turned out to be a savior of human lives and limiter of injuries inflicted by a centuries-old tradition of war of stones between two riverside villages.

The Gotmar Fair, which marks Bhadrapad Amavasya for the twin-villages of Pandhurna and Sawargaon, happened on Friday.

The tradition that falls on 15th day of the Hindu month of Bhadrapad takes its origin in a local mythological tale of killing of two lovers.

This year, however, continuous rains and a swelling Jam river, which separates the villages, seemed to have taken the sheen out of the annual stone pelting war between the residents of the two villages.