Welcome in Sonpur Mela. Please visit once it is most heart touching Fair.

History :-

Originally, the venue of the fair was Hajipur and people went to sonpur to worship the god Vishnu in Harihar Nath temple in sonpur. However, under the rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the venue of the fair got shifted to Sonepur. The temple of Harihar Nath is believed to have been originally built by Lord Rama, on his way to the court of King Janak to win the hand of Mata Sita. It is further said that Raja Man Singh later got the temple repaired. The Harihar Nath temple, as it stands today, was built by Raja Ram Narain, an influential person during the late Mughal period.

The Sonepur mela has a profound historic grandeur. According to the travelogue of a British administrative officer, W W Hynter, in 1919, the Sonepur mela used to be held in over 43 villages in the past. But now a days the Sonepur mela is held here on a sprawling 200 acres of land.

Since Sonepur is situated at the convergence of the sacred rivers Ganges and Gandak, the Hindus regard it as a holy site. One of the purposes of the people visiting the Sonepur Cattle Fair, apart from the fair, is to take a holy dip at the convergence and pay respects at the Hariharnath Temple. There are lot of holy temple like Naulakkha Mandir, kali mandir, Radha-krishna mandir, Sadhu Gachhi and many more. It was also famous for Sadhu-Mahatma.

According to sources, the mela venue in the past also used to serve as a prime place for freedom movement. In fact, the fair was for the first time held on the Hajipur side around the 16th century. Later, the mela was shifted to the Sonepur side at the initiative of the then British officials to suppress the freedom movement.