Mid-April
Bikhauti
Mid-April, as the year turns into Baisakh, Bikhauti brings ritual dips in the cold rivers and the old village fairs — the spring counterpart to winter's Uttarayani.
All festivalsBikhauti
/ bi·khau·ti /बिखौती
Vishuvat Sankranti — the spring Sankranti of ritual river-baths and old hill fairs.
Bikhauti — Vishuvat Sankranti — falls in mid-April, at the head of the month of Baisakh. People rise early for a ritual bath in the rivers and naulas, still cold with the last of the snowmelt, washing off the old and welcoming the warm half of the year.
It is a day of old fairs across Kumaon — Dwarahat's famous Bikhoti fair among them, once known for a ritual stone-fight between villages — and of meeting, trading and marking the turn of the season.
The ritual dip
An early bath in the cold rivers and naulas at the head of Baisakh.
The Bikhoti fairs
Old spring fairs across the hills — Dwarahat's the best known.
