Religious
Renuka Ji Fair
When it happens
The main fair runs for about five days and closes on Prabodhini (Kartik) Ekadashi, roughly eleven days after Diwali. The dates follow the Hindu lunar calendar and fall in late October or November.
Renuka is the largest natural lake in Himachal, shaped — people say — like a woman lying down, and identified with the goddess Renuka, mother of Parshuram. The fair marks the one day each year when Parshuram, whose temple is at nearby Jamu, is carried to the lake to meet his mother.
The palanquin of Parshuram and the deities of the surrounding area are brought in procession to Renuka, bathed in the lake and taken around it. Pilgrims take a ritual dip, and the shore fills for several days with a fair — stalls, a cattle market, wrestling and kabaddi, and cultural performances in the evenings.
It is a state-level fair and one of the main religious gatherings of the Sirmaur district, set against the wooded hills and the wildlife sanctuary that surround the lake.
Why it matters
The fair enacts the annual reunion of Parshuram and Renuka from the Puranic story of the Haihaya king and the sage Jamadagni. For the Giri and Jalal valleys it is the principal pilgrimage of the year and a fixture of the local ritual calendar.
What to expect
The arrival and lake circumambulation of Parshuram and the local deities, ritual bathing, a cattle fair and wrestling bouts, food and craft stalls, and evening cultural programmes. Renuka is at low elevation and mild; the nearest larger town is Nahan.
Places nearby
Lunar dates shift every year and local programmes change — confirm the current year's dates with Himachal Pradesh Tourism or the district administration before you book travel.