Nahan, Nov 22 (PTI) The six-day long International Shri Renuka Ji Fair began on Wednesday afternoon in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district as thousands of devotees welcomed the arrival of Lord Parshuram’s palanquin, which symbolises his arrival at his mother’s abode.

Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania participated in the inaugural ceremony at the Dr Y S Parmar Senior Secondary School ground at Dadahu.

Pathania began the ‘shobha yatra’ of Lord Parshuram by lifting the silver palanquin on his shoulders.

'Devabhinandan', a religious welcome ceremony of deities, was performed when Lord Parshuram's palanquin arrived at Dadahu from a temple in Jamu Koti village.

Six palanquins of other deities were also brought from different parts of the district. Thousands of devotees were part of the celebration that included chanting of vedic hymns, singing of bhajans, beats of ‘runsinghas’, trumpets, drums, etc.

The ‘shobha yatra’ passed through Dadahu market with 'devdhun' – ancient Sirmauri devotional songs dedicated to Lord Parshuram and Bhagwati Renuka Ji – in the background.

It took three hours for the palanquins to cover the 2-km-long procession to arrive on the banks of Shri Renuka Ji Lake. The palanquins were placed at the ancient Parshuram temple for darshan.

Acharya Surendra Sharma, a Bhagwat Kathakar, said the fair is the biggest annual congregation of people in Sirmaur district since thousands of years.

The religious assembly finds mentions in several puranas, including Skand Purana and Brahmand Puran, he added.

Devotees from different parts of Himachal Pradesh and the adjacent states of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi attend the fair.

Suresh Kumar Pundir, a leading social worker of Renuka area, said spending a night under the sky in the ‘mela’ ground to show their devotion to Lord Parshuram and Bhagwati Renuka Ji is an essential tradition.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made at the fair as thousands of devotees are expected to visit the 'tirtha' for a holy ‘snan’ (dip) on Thursday.

The fair will conclude on Kartika Purnima on November 27. PTI COR BPL AS AS SKY SKY