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City in Uttar Pradesh, India
Photo: Manvendra prince Mishra, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Ballia is in Uttar Pradesh province of India. Ballia is an ancient city. Many great saints and sages of India had their ashrams in Ballia, including 'Valmiki', 'Bhrigu', 'Durvasa', 'Parashara muni' and 'Jamadagni.' Ballia was a part of the Kosala Kingdom in ancient times. It also came under Buddhist influence for some time. Earlier the district was a part of Ghazipur district, but later it was created as an independent district.
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Dadri Mela is the second largest cattle fair of India. The fair starts on the full moon of the month of Kartik (October–November) with a holy dip in the Ganges River. This fair is held annually in the honour of Dadar Muni, the disciple of Maharishi Bhrigu. This fair is celebrated for more than one month and is organised in two phases. The first phase starts before 10 days of Kartik Poornima (full moon) in which traders bring some excellent hybrids of cattle from across India for sale/purchase. On or after Kartik Poornima, various cultural programs are organised and one can find shops of different items at one stop during the next fortnight.
By road
Roads from Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Patna are very good, although it is worth checking whether a train will get you there faster as, for example, a drive from Varanasi would take about 4 hours.
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Patna · Regional · PAT
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