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 The
Jambheswar Fair is held in the village Mukam of tehsil
Nokha, Bikaner District, twice a year on Phalgun Budi
Amavasya and Ashvin Budi Amavasya, in memory of the
founder of the Bishnoi sect -Jambheswarji. His teachings
are condensed into 120 sayings which propagate the
cardinal virtues of self-control, truth and non-violence.
He taught 29 articles of religion and hence the term Bishnoi from Bees (twenty) and Nau (nine). The Bishnois
consider him to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Near the
Nokha Town, there are two temples of Jambheswarji, one in
the village Mukam (mukam literally means abode) and the
other on the sand dune of Samarthal.
The temple at Mukam has the samadhi of Jambheswarji and a
life-size portrait adorns the central hall. On the ground
floor, there are five rooms, one of which is used to store
grain offered by the visitors and the rest serve as a
guest house. The grain which is offered at the temple is
used to feed pigeons, peacocks and birds throughout the
year beside the temple, built specifically for this
purpose.
A large fair is held in February-March on Phagun Budi
Amavasya every year. It is attended by people from Punjab,
Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, apart from the local
visitors. The second fair which is a smaller, localised
affair, is attended by people coming in from neighbouring
villages on camels, bullock carts and even on foot. The
number of shops is lesser and comprises mostly of sellers
from Nokha, Himmatsar and Bikaner. The visitors go to the
temple at Mukam and the sand dune at Samarthal (where
Jambhaji used to preach) and take part in the worship and
rituals. It is customary to take some sand from the tank
called Talai at Mukam and deposit it at the foot of the
dune at Samarthal.
The village Mukam is 15 kms. away from Nokha. Regular
buses plying from Bikaner to Jaipur, Bikaner to Salasar
and Nokha to Sujangarh stop by at the Mukam bus stand.
Nokha is 60 kms. from Bikaner on the Bikaner-Jodhpur road.
It is also a rail head of the Northern Railway.
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