11th Baokhungri Festival gets underway in Kokrajhar

KOKRAJHAR: The popular 11th Baokhungri Festival, 2024 got underway from Friday at Baokhungri Hillside Near Harinaguri in Kokrajhar. The festival showcases ethnic food items, traditional sports and folk culture.

As part of the programme, the flag of the organizing committee was hoisted by its president Khakaram Basumatary and flag of Bodoland Indigenous Games Association (BIGA) by Ajit Kr Basumatary,  Assistant General Secretary while the General secretary of Dularai Boro Harimu Afad (DBHA),  Bijitgiri Basumatary, paid floral tribute to Ayung Chanakya Brahma at his portrait.

 Former Director of SAI, Northeast Council Dr. Subhash Basumatary inaugurated the indigenous games arena and opened the “Khomlainai “ competition while the Principal of Kokrajhar Government College Dimacha Dwibrang Mochahary flagged off the Hills Trekking competition and OSD to CEM of BTC Dr. Sangrang Brahma flagged off the cycling competition.

Talking to media persons, Basumatary said the Baokhungri Festival was the festival of ethnicity. It focuses on traditional sports, ethnic food items and folk culture and dance of tribal communities. He said Khomlainai, a traditional wrestling had attained popularity in India and participation in the competitions in indigenous games are increasing. He thanked the BIGA working for preservation of all traditional sports which are facing extinction.

Baokhungri Festival is related to the history of princess Deeplai, the daughter of Daoka Raja who became martyr at the peak of Baokhungri hill when she heard about the death of her beloved prince. In Bodo “Bao” means sacrifice and “Khungri” means princess and thus the literal meaning of Baokhungri is sacrifice of life of a princess.

The peak of Baokhungri hill is 1620 metres from the ground. People from all ages go to the pick to offer prayers wishing good health and success of their lives for the next year since the beginning of Assamese new year. Hundreds of thousand of people irrespective of age, caste, creed and religion used to climb Baokhungri hill top on “Sankranti”, the last day of Chaitra every year.

The attractive showcases of Baokhungri Festival are hill trekking, ethnic food stalls, traditional sports, folk culture and dance and paragliding from Dangdufur hill to Baokhungri Festival venue.

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