Lucknow: The donkey fair at Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh is an annual event that takes place during Diwali season in the country. Donkeys named after film actors are sold at the fair. In a bizarre twist, the donkey named after Lawrence Bishnoi was sold for the highest bid this year.
Chitrakoot Donkey Fair, organised at the banks of the River Mandakini, takes place one day after Diwali. The three-day event attracts a large crowd of spectators and other traders from across the country every year. Each year, donkeys are named after popular Bollywood stars. However, unlike other years, a donkey named after gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was sold for a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh. It became the most expensive donkey to be ever sold in the history of the fair. Meanwhile, a donkey named after Salman Khan was sold for Rs 85,000. Another one named after Shahrukh Khan was sold for Rs 75,000.
Donkey named after ‘Lawrence Bishnoi’ sells for Rs 1.25 lakh at the Chitrakoot Donkey Fair in UP
Fair organiser Ramesh Pandey said that the event has been a tradition since the Mughal era, particularly during Aurangzeb’s reign as the emperor’s army often used donkeys to move goods due to the lack of other means of transportation. Pandey, who fears the extinction of the popular fair in the coming years, stated that the fair often saw the presence of 500 donkeys and mules. He also claimed that he had been observing a shift in the naming patterns. In recent times, the names of the donkeys were influenced by the latest events.
