Once a year the small village of Khatu turns into an ocean. As Phalgun Shukla Ekadashi nears, every road towards Khatu drowns in saffron — devotees walking on foot, a nishan in hand, "Jai Shri Shyam" on their lips.
This is the Phalgun Lakhi Mela — Khatu Shyam’s greatest festival, in which lakhs of devotees come from every corner of the country to present themselves at Baba’s court.
Why it is called "Lakhi"
The word "Lakhi" comes from "lakh" — a mela in which lakhs gather. And the name is no exaggeration; in the days of the Phalgun Mela the devotees reaching Khatu truly number in the lakhs, in some years into the tens of lakhs.
The mela is chiefly at its peak around Phalgun Shukla Ekadashi to Dwadashi, though devotees begin arriving days earlier. The dates and arrangements for the coming year can be seen on the Phalgun Mela page.
This is the very tithi tied to Baba’s appearance at Khatu — so this Phalgun festival is not just a mela, but the annual remembrance of Baba’s manifestation.
The journey of the nishan
The soul of the mela is the "nishan". The nishan is a saffron (or many-coloured) flag that the devotee ties to a long pole, carries on the shoulder, walks to Khatu, and offers at the temple’s pinnacle.
This nishan is not just a piece of cloth — it is a declaration. Raising it, the devotee says, in effect: "I too belong to Baba’s court, and my wish is reaching his feet." One raises a nishan in gratitude for a wish fulfilled, another with the resolve of a new prayer.
When this procession of lakhs of nishans moves towards Khatu in the dark of night, with lamps and bhajans, the sight raises the hair on the arms of anyone who beholds it.
Ringas to Khatu — eighteen kilometres on foot
The mela’s most famous tradition is the walk from Ringas to Khatu — a route of about eighteen kilometres, which many devotees cover barefoot.
Reaching Ringas by rail or road, devotees set out on foot from there. Along the way, seva-camps spring up everywhere — one offers water, one offers food, one massages tired feet. The whole road becomes a moving city of devotion.
This walk is not merely covering a distance — it is a sadhana in itself. At every step the ego melts a little more, and by the time the devotee reaches Khatu he feels lighter within, humbler, and closer to Baba.
Each one’s call, even in the crowd
The most astonishing thing in that crowd of lakhs is that every devotee there feels himself alone, standing before Baba. The crowd is outside; within there is only him and his Shyam.
Devotees who cannot reach the mela connect with Baba from home in these days too — through the live darshan, sharing in the feeling of the mela’s aarti and darshan.
The full story of Baba’s appearance at Khatu can be read in the katha of the Pragatya at Khatu — and knowing it deepens the feeling of this mela further.
The message of the mela
The Phalgun Lakhi Mela teaches us that faith is not a thing of solitude — it grows by being shared. When lakhs of strangers walk one road, in one name, with one feeling, they become a family.
And at the centre of this whole sea of people stands that one promise — Hare ka Sahara. Whoever comes to this mela tired and defeated, Baba sends home only after giving them a refuge.