Sodal mela

Baba Sodal Mela occupies a prominent place in the list of fairs in Punjab. The fair is held to pay tribute to the great soul of the Baba Sodal. Every year, it is held in the month of Bhadon, in the city of Jalandhar. 

The celebration takes place on the 14th day of Shukla Paksha in Bhadrapad Masa. The fair attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over the country, who come and pay tribute to the deity on this day. Baba Sodal Fair is centered on the Samadhi of the baba, with his painted portrait placed alongside, decorated with flowers and rosaries. 

There is a holy tank nearby the Samadhi, which is called the Baba Sodal da Sarovar. Pilgrims either sprinkle the holy water from this tank on themselves or sometimes, even take a dip in the tank. Then they present offerings at the Samadhi of Baba Sodal.

The people of Jalandhar believe that an infant child named Sodal ages ago possessed some magical and divine powers, who on this day drowned himself in a pond as ordered by his mother. That pond is today popularly known as the Sodal ka Sarowar, and people from Jalandhar and cities around it gather on this day early in the morning to take a holy dip in the Sarovar and pay tribute to the Samadhi of Baba Sodal. 

As his death anniversary is a day-long event it is often termed as Baba Sodal Mela. Mela Baba Sodal is celebrated on the fourteen-day of Shukla Paksha in the month of Bhaadon or you can say that it is one day prior to the full moon night or Poornima of this month. 

The month of Bhaadon clashed with the September month according to the English calendar. A huge Mela is organized on the premises of Sodal Mandir on that day. The devotees come from far away places. Some people start visiting the temple even at the early midnight of the beginning of the Mela.