The town of Kullu, headquarters of the district, and standing on the bank of the Beas, is known mostly for its fabulous Dussehra Fair in the Dhalpur Maidan. Located at an altitude of 1,219 metres (4,000 ft),it consists of two distinct townships- the Sultanpur area, where the government offices, hospitals, and rest houses are located, and the Akhara Bazar, which is a market place.
A spacious grassy meadow fringed with deodar ex-tends right up to the river Beas--this is the famous, Dhalpur Maidan. The Motor road runs below Sultanpur to Akhara Bazar.
All festivals and fairs are a part of the people's culture. The Kullu Dussehra mirrors the Himachali culture in entitety, reflecting the people's history, religion social customs, modes and mores, love of music and dance and, above all, the human yearning for just having a plain good time. The strains of a folk song come to the ear, a young Kullu belle asks her swain to accompany her, she promises to don the very best and dreams of the happy and blissful time the two will have--but only as a bride.
"Let us go to Dashmi, let us go to Kullu to see the Dussehra;
I shall put on a silken scarf, and a square designed Pattoo;
You shall come with your tri-coloured bag;
We meet in Kullu. Bring a juicy coconut along.
We shall eat it there, I will stay with you;
But only as a bride."
The centre place of the fair is a gaily coloured tent in which the God of Kullu Raghunath sits resplendent in all his glory, the over 360 gods from all over the valley come to pay him homage, and the hillmen, the handsome Gaddis with their lovely maidens come with them, carrying their gods in procession blowing trumpets, beating drums and dancing.
At night, they are seen descending along the hill trails in the magic of a torchlight procession. There is much dancing and rejoicing at the fair. Relatives neet and marriages are arranged.
There is avid selling and buy-rig of hill and plain commodities. Traders from the plains bring textiles, cigarettes, electric torches, transistors, jewellery, mirrors and shaving sets, etc. They take-back wool and woollen goods; the jauntily coloured Kullu caps of velvet and gold are very much demand by the visitors both from home and abroad.
After an exhibition of luscious fruits, performances by both national and international (the Romanian folk ensemble performed in 1973) dancing troupes, wrestling matches (international Women's wrestling Championship in 1973) and other fun filling events, on the last day after the Yatra of Raghunath and the burning of Lanka, the fair ends with the sacrifice of a buffalo at one stroke of a sword by the Raja of Kullu.
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