Buffalo fight marks end of harvest season in Assam

Hundreds of people came together in Jorhat, Assam, to witness a buffalo fight on the occasion of the harvest festival of Bhogali Bihu, which also marks the end of the harvest season.

Buffalo fights have been a major attraction in Assam for local residents and tourists.

An organiser of the event, Rohini Borthakur, said they have been organising buffalo fights to spread awareness about Assamese culture among the people who nowadays hardly celebrate Bihu together.

Bihu is the most important festival in Assam and is celebrated thrice a year. In the month of April, it is called Rongali or Bohag Bihu, during October-November it is called Kati Bihu and in the month of January, when it coincides with northern India's harvest festival called Makar Sankranti, it is called Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu.

It is celebrated immediately after the winter harvest. The word bhogali originates from the word bhog, which translates to feast, and the festival is essentially one of thanksgiving and merry making after a good harvest.

On Tuesday, villagers from far off places brought their buffaloes for the thrilling traditional fight in which the specially reared buffaloes are brought to the ring and then provoked for the duel.

In the months preceding the festival, buffaloes are fed with rich fodder and reeds of long grass typical to the state's marshy land.

The spectators for the buffalo fight in Jorhat city in Assam were seen cheering and clapping, anticipating an exciting duel, when the specially reared and fiercely competitive animals charged at each other at menacing speed to lock their horns.

The fight had come to represent the traditional religious beliefs of the rural region and is awaited by one and all.

"We think that this festival will bring lot of prosperity and happiness for the people of Assam," added event organiser, Rohini Borthakur.

Since centuries, the practice of buffalo fighting has been followed, wherein the two animals are made to lock horns, fighting for the honour of an area until one of them is pushed off the field.

However, there have always been animal lovers voicing concern against such practices as it is termed as an example of cruelty to animals by them.