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Next: about 31 Aug 2027

Bail Pola

The bullocks' festival of Maharashtra and the Vidarbha country: a day of rest, a bath, painted horns and a village procession.

Pola (Bulls worshipping day) celebration at Chinawal village , India
Photo: abhiriksh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cattle at Bail Pola

Pola falls on the new moon of Shravan, when the sowing is done. On that day farmers in Maharashtra, and in parts of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, do not yoke their bullocks. The evening before, the animals' shoulders are rubbed with oil and turmeric; in the morning they are bathed, their horns painted, and they are dressed in embroidered cloths, bells and garlands. Women perform an aarti and feed them puran poli. In the afternoon the bullocks walk in procession to the village temple, and each household brings its pair home again. The next day children pull wooden bulls through the lanes for Tanha Pola.

The breeds

KhillariThe lean, fast draught breed of western Maharashtra.GaolaoThe pale draught and dairy breed of Vidarbha.DangiThe hardy hill breed of the high-rainfall Sahyadri.DeoniThe pied dual-purpose breed of Latur and Bidar.

Also part of it, and being written: Red Kandhari (The red draught cattle of the Marathwada plateau.).

About this page

Written by the EveryCow desk with AI assistance. Background: "Pola (festival)" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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