May – June
Ganga Dussehra
An early-summer festival of water, when the naula springs and rivers that feed the hills are honoured — and homes are blessed with the painted dwarpatra hung above the door.
All festivalsGanga Dussehra
Honouring the springs and rivers.
Ganga Dussehra falls in the dry warmth before the monsoon, when water is most precious in the hills. It honours the descent of the Ganga, and in Kumaon it's marked by hanging the dwarpatra — a coloured print of gods and protective verses — above the doorway, where it stays through the year to guard the home.
It's a quiet, domestic festival, tied closely to the naulas (stone springs) that village life depends on — a reminder, in the season of least water, of how much the hills owe their springs.
Honouring the naulas
The stone springs and rivers that feed the village are remembered.
The dwarpatra
A painted print of gods and verses hung above the door for the year.
