Nandurbar: 300-Year-Old Chetak Festival Begins In Sarangkheda; Over 2,200 Horses Registered

Nandurbar: The Datta Mahotsav of the Mahanubhav Panthiyas, who are one-sided Datta, started today on Datta Jayanti in Sarangkheda in Nandurbar district, which has a tradition of 300 years. On this occasion, a large-scale yatra festival is being held in Sarangkheda and horses are being sold from all over the country in this yatra.

Due to this, the horse festival held here is famous across the country and now this yatra will be known as Chetak Mahotsav. Efforts were made through Minister Jaykumar Rawal to give this festival a proper shape and take it to the global level, but the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had stopped the government's financial cooperation for the festival.

Now, there is an expectation from Nandurbar district and horse lovers that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should look into this and restart that cooperation. Sarangkheda in Shahada taluka of Nandurbar district is the place of Ekmukhi Datta of the Mahanubhav sect.

For the past over 300 years, a big festival has been celebrated on Datta Jayanti in Sarangkheda. Today, the pilgrimage began with a puja and chariot festival. In this yatra, noble and excellent horses are brought for sale from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and South India, so horse enthusiasts from all over the country come to buy and sell horses.

It is said that in the past, kings and maharajas used to buy excellent horses for their armies from this yatra. Horses are also brought from abroad in this yatra. Many film artists, horse enthusiasts and tourists from home and abroad come here to buy horses, as well as tourist attractions, stud farm owners, and horse lovers buy horses.

This generates a turnover of crores every year. This yatra continues for fifteen days after Datta Jayanti. Various horse competitions are held during the yatra. Various horse competitions are also organised during this yatra. Even before the yatra starts, horses have started arriving, and some horses have been sold. Today, 2225 horses have entered the yatra and horse lovers have started flocking.

For the past few years, efforts have been made by the local gram panchayat to make this yatra more successful. Since Rawal of Shindkheda was a minister in the Fadnavis government that came after 2014, he had named this yatra Chetak Mahotsav and made efforts through MTDC to make this yatra go to the world level.

Efforts were made to ensure that the tourists from all over the country visiting the yatra were well organised by getting funds from the government. Due to this, the yatra had gained a status. Chief Minister Fadnavis had even visited this yatra.

Later, the Thackeray government that came after him refused to cooperate with the yatra and stopped providing funds. As a result, the smooth management of the yatra collapsed. Now that Rawal has returned to the cabinet as a minister, he will look into this, and the Sarangkheda Yatra and Chetak Mahotsav will get government support.