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Besan mehndi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Besan mehndi is a Hindu tradition which takes place once every 734.5 days. It is practiced in North India taking place in four towns in particular:
The tradition was first established in 234 BC in Bareilly.
The towns were first determined by the first cattle of the first march's step. The direction of the step decided the direction of the town and the number of steps decided the distance of the town (one step being equal to 100 miles)
Originally, the towns were vast fields of grass and sand, the tradition marked them as places of interest, and so brought about many Hindus, many of whom decided to stay and so towns were setup.
The actual tradition was started when a guru of a local Mandir in Bareilly decided to pour blessed rosewater over a sacred cow. The cow was deemed sacred as it had provided milk for a baby whose mother had died of malaria. According to the stories passed down generations, the cow began to float. It cried the Goddess of beauty's rāga. The guru kissed the cow on the top of the head, and later went on to live to the age of 130 as he was blessed. The tradition today is thousands of Hindus every two years commuting to the chosen town, typically by foot. A heard of female cattle walk on a circular field of flowers, which has a diameter of approximately 3 miles. They walk through the Falgu river, in Gaya, the river is often diluted with many litres of rosewater, in remembrance of Shringa-Sthan Gauri, the Guru who witnessed the sacred cow who was named Brahman, after the child she had fed.