Mukatsar Maghi Fair is a popular festival of Punjab. Along with Lohri and Holi, it is one of those many festivals which have no real religious importance to the Sikhs, except locally, and generally their celebrations concur with a particular season. Mukatsar Maghi Fair is a local fair with historical significance and attracts millions of crowds in the last two to three days. This huge fair is celebrated on the occasion of Makar Sankranti in January every year at Muktsar town.

Features

# Muktsar whose ancient name is Khidrana is located 45km. away from Faridkot. The place is named after the 40 'Muktas', the emancipated ones who died valiantly in the battle of Khidrana.
# Earlier, they had abandoned Guru Gobind Singh during the battle of Anandpur Sahib but later, taunted by their womenfolk, rejoined Guru.
# They died valiantly in the battle of Khidrana.
# Tuti Gundhi, Tibbi Sahib, Rikab Sahib, Dattan Sahib, Tamboo Sahib, Dukhbhanjan Sahib -- all these gurudwaras commemorate incidents from the life of the tenth Prophet.
# The battle took place near a pool of water, Khidrane di Dhab, on 29 December 1705.
# The bodies of the 40 heroes were cremated the following day on the first of Magh which now falls usually on the 13th of January.
# A big fair is organized and a huge crowd gathers at Muktsar.
# Pilgrims take a dip in the sacred lake and visit several shrines connected with the historic battle.
# A big band of pilgrims march from the main shrine to gurdwara Tibbi Sahib, sacred to Guru Gobind Singh.
# This marks the conclusion of the three-day celebration.

Season

January is the month when Mukatsar Maghi Fair is celebrated.

How To Reach Punjab

Reaching the land of Mukatsar Maghi Fair is not difficult at all.

By Air Chandigarh and Amritsar are the two major airports, connected to other cities in India by regular flights. Indian airlines do have regular flights from Chandigarh to Delhi, Lucknow, Leh, and Amritsar.

By Rail Punjab is well connected with other parts of the country by rail. Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Jalandhar are the major railway hubs in Punjab.

By Road State Highways connect major cities to the state capital. NH 1 or the Grand Trunk Road connects the state with most of the north as well as east India.