Bikaner Kolayat Festival
Kolayat festival also known as Kapil Muni fair is celebrated on a full moon kartik poornima in November every year with great pomp and religious fervor on the banks of Kolayat Lake in Bikaner. Kolayat festival is a momentous Hindu carnival that finds a mention in ancient Hindu scriptures, including the Puranas.
Due to the high ritual value of this festival, and pilgrims and tourists congregate on the banks of the sacred Kolayat Lake and take holy dips before praying at the Kolayat Temple located close by. Pilgrims make offerings of milk pudding, sugar drops and sweetmeats at the Kolayat Temple, Bikaner. According to popular anecdote, the renowned Kapil Muni meditated on the banks of the Kolayat Lake for the liberation of mankind. In fact Kolayat in Bikaner was known as Kapilayatan after the sage of Kapil Muni. The religious worth of Kolayat and the Kolayat fair is apparent from the fact that both find a mention in the Puranas, one of the most significant Hindu scriptures. This festival is celebrated with exhilarating cultural and religious customs that brighten all the 52 Ghats that decorates the banks of the Kolayat Lake in Bikaner.
During the Deepmala ritual that lights up the entire region around Kolayat on the concluding day of the festival, tourists enjoy breathtaking vistas of lighted oil lamps afloat on the serene waters of the sacred Lake Kolayat. As a tourist, you can get opportunity to delve deep into the enigmatic Bikaner culture and religious traditions. Celebrated on an auspicious date on a full moon night in the Hindu month of Kartik in winter, every year, the Kolayat festival showcases the wondrous Bikaner customs.
