The Fading Glory of Bihar\'s Sonepur Cattle Mela

Courtesy of Manoj BishwasThe Rimjhim theater at the Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar where dance performances are held.

For centuries, the Sonepur cattle fair in the Saran district of Bihar was one of the largest of its kind on the continent, with traders coming from as far as central Asia each year to buy and sell all kinds of animals, including elephants and horses.

Over the years, however, the fair has seen a noticeable decline in visitors, which attendees blame on the state's lack of interest in the event. This year, the Bihar tourism department took over management of the event from the district fair committee in hopes o f attracting foreign tourists, but the number of traders and visitors has dropped off only a week after the fair began Nov. 27, with no foreign tourists in sight.

Courtesy of Manoj BishwasShoppers and onlookers at the Sonepur cattle fair.

One district administrative official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media, estimated that the fair was drawing not even 25,000 people a day, from about 100,000 a day in past years.

Traders say that the cattle fair has lost its rustic charm and that animal trading has been pushed to the background. Just a week into the fair, which ends Dec. 26, all t hat was left were a few stalls selling cheap electronic gadgets, handicrafts, costume jewelry, utensils and unhygienic food items.

One elephant trader, Mohammed Issad, said his fellow traders have lost interest in the lackluster Sonepur fair, and he recalled wistfully of the days when elephants were  the biggest stars. “I've been coming to the Sonepur fair for the last 25 years, when about 500 elephants used to come,” he said. “There was not even an inch of space vacant here in this mango orchard elephant ground in those days.”

Courtesy of Manoj BishwasRani, a 25 month-old elephant, with her owner Mahendra Pradhan at the fair.

Bihar's ban on elephant trade has reduced the number of elephants at the fair over the years, but traders have found ways around the rules by labeling elephant sales as gifts. Last year, 35 elephants were for sale, but this year, only two elephants were left a week after the fair began, both of them Mr. Issad's, and he was getting ready to leave with them.

Lagandeo Chaudhury, a septuagenarian horse trader from Uttar Pradesh who has been coming to Sonepur fair since 1960, said he has never seen such a slump in the animal trade.

“There are no buyers today, and even the traders from other states have stopped coming in,” he said a week after the fair started. “I'm also leaving with my horses as staying here would serve no purpose.”

Courtesy of Manoj BishwasFood stalls at the cattle fair.

The state tourism department had solicited bids from private companies to revamp the fair, giving the project to the highest bidder, Impact Communications of Delhi, which offered 12 million rupees ($220,000). The government asked the company to build Swiss cottages for foreign tourists and to put up large tents that would hold daily cultural events.

A total of 23 tourists, from Australia, the United States, Japan and Belgium, stayed in the 20 cottages in the first week of the fair, but since then no one has used the houses, which cost 4,110 rupees a night, an exorbitant amount for this part of India. The cultural exhibitions, like the one featuring an artist from Orissa state who made sand replicas of Bihar's historical structures, were likewise devoid of visitors.

“It's all loss, a huge loss,” said Nagendra Kumar, an employee of th e state tourist department.

Ravi Nair, manager of Impact Communications, blamed the dismal turnout on the lack of coordination between state government departments to promote and organize the event.

“At the Pushkar cattle fair in Rajasthan, the state animal husbandry department puts in lot of resources and energy to make it successful every year,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Our total investment is two crore [20 million] rupees,” he said. “And forget about profit - I'm not sure we'll be able to recover our money,” he said.

Mohammed Babbar, a dog trader from the Patna district, has been a regular attendee of the Sonepur fair, bringing hundreds of canines, but he said he would think twice about coming next year.

“What to do? I can't even recover my transportation costs,” he said. “There is no encouragement from the state government at all to keep the Sonepur fair alive.”

Devendra Rajak, joint director of the state tourism department, acknowledged that the number of attendees has fallen this year but declined to identify any specific cause. He said that “a lot of improvements have been made in the fair from this year ” and that the department would do its best to attract visitors next year.

Meanwhile, what life is left in this year's fair can be found in several sleazy theaters, plastered with revealing posters of Bollywood beauties, and country liquor shops and bars, which are enjoying a booming business, thanks to visitors from the villages.