Dahi Handi Festival: Important Topics for UPSC Exams​


Dahi Handi Festival: Important Topics for UPSC Exams​


What is it?

  • It is one of the festive events and a team sport during the Hindu festival Gokulashtami.
  • It is also known as Krishna Janmashtami in the rest of the country, and celebrates the birth of Krishna.
  • It is popular in Maharashtra and nearby regions of India.
  • The event involves making a human pyramid and breaking an earthen pot filled with milk, curd, butter, fruits and water which is hung at a convenient height, thus imitating the actions of child Krishna.

What are some problematic Issues in the event?

  • As per the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine report of 2012 "There is a considerable risk of serious, life-threatening injuries inherent to human pyramid formation and descent in the Dahihandi festival"
    Traffic Congestion and excessive littering.
  • Sound pollution.
  • Height of the earthen pot (Matki) many a times causes tragic accidents and recently Supreme Court prescribed some guidelines for it. However, it was not followed in some places.
  • Number of injuries due to such event is increasing due to rising competitions among groups to reach the top first.

Recent Judgements to address such issues

  • 2014: Children below the age of 12 were banned from participation by the government of Maharastra.
  • 2014: Bombay High Court ruled that minimum age should be raised to 18 years and height of the pyramid should be no more than 20 feet for safety reasons.
  • 2016: The Supreme Court upholds the directives of the Bombay High Court but various organizations have re-appealed on different legal grounds. They state that Olympic sports are dangerous and cause injuries too, but that is not sufficient grounds to ban Olympic participation. Banning a religious tradition, they state, infringes on the religious rights of a particular community.

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