Sonepur Mela

The Sonpur Mela is held each year in India since ancient times. During the festival people from both banks of the Ganges trade in horses and elephants. At this fair traders come from distant places, because the 14-day fair is the biggest event of the animals of this kind across Asia. The Sonepur Cattle Fair or Sonepur Mela is held on Kartik Poornima (the full moon day) in the month of November in Sonepur, Bihar, on the confluence of river Ganges and Gandak. It is also known as Harihar Kshetra Mela and it attracts visitors from all over Asia. Till date, it is the biggest cattle fair of Asia and stretches on from fifteen days to one month. It has its origins during ancient times. This is when Chandragupta Maurya used to buy elephants and horses across the river Ganges. The Sonepur Cattle Fair once used to attract traders from places as distant as Central Asia