SIRMUR

On the first Sunday of the month the villagers offer grains. A fair lasting for three days takes place here on the Dussehra (the famous Indian fair held on the tenth of the light half of Asauj) when people assembled from far and near. Sohr Devta temple at Paonwala houses two idols. According to local lore a Rajah from Dhara Nagari came here to lead the life of a devotee and died here.

The local inhabitants saw the rajah in dream, after his death, and he told them to worship him at that sacred place and promised that, the devotees would be rewarded by the removal of misfortunes and troubles and by the prevalence of peace and prosperity among the people. The people, therefore, jointly constructed a temple and placed two idols in it to be known as Shohr Devta.

They also resolved that on the first day of the Bikrami month of Sawan each year a fair be held at this place incommemoration of the rajah. The fair is still held and called the 'Haryali-ka-Mela'. It starts from the priest's house whence an idol of the Shohr Devta is taken out in a palanquin and a procession attended by some of the villagers, with a "Mutha" or "Chanwar" (a fly whisk) swinging over the idol.

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