Bagwal at Devidhura
बग्वालKumaon region · Devidhura, Champawat
What Bagwal at Devidhura marks
A centuries-old ritual fair at the Varahi Devi temple in Devidhura, Champawat, famous for the bagwal, a symbolic stone-throwing contest between four clans. Tradition holds it once substituted for a human sacrifice owed to the goddess.
How it's celebrated
Members of the four groups face off across a field and pelt each other with stones (now often flowers and fruit) behind cane shields, until the priest judges that blood equal to one human has been shed and halts it. It draws large crowds to Devidhura.