Parshuram Kund Festival in Arunachal Pradesh

About the Festival-

• Parshuam Kund Mela is an annual religious fair which is celebrated near Parshuram Kund.
• During the festival pilgrims come to take a dip at the Kund, believed to wash away all sins during the festival. 
• It is also known as the Kumbh of Northeast.
• Thousands of devotees visit the sacred shrine of Parshuram in Tezu every year.
• It comes under the PRASAD scheme of the central government.

Parshuram Kund-

• Parshuram Kund is a Hindu pilgrimage site situated on the Brahmaputra plateau in the lower reaches of the Lohit River and 21 km north of Tezu in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh(  within the Kamlang Reserve Forest area). 
• Dedicated to sage Parshuram, the popular site attracts pilgrims from Nepal, from across India, and from nearby states of Manipur and Assam. 
• Many devotees and sadhus take a holy dip in its water each year on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, in the month of January.
• The Kund is surrounded by dense forest of Ruddraksha trees, the fruit of which is considered sacred to Hindu ascetics as well as general believers of the faith.
• It is believed that Lord Parashuram the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, on the orders of his father Rishi Jamadagni, beheaded his mother Renuka with his axe. 
• Since he had committed one of the worst crimes of killing one’s mother, the axe got stuck to his hand. 
• His father pleased with his obedience decided to give him a boon to which he asked for his mother to be restored back to life. 
• Even after his mother was brought back to life the axe could not be removed from his hand. This was a reminder of the heinous crime he had committed. 
• He repented for his crime and on taking the advice of eminent rishis of that time, he arrived at the banks of Lohit River to wash his hands in its pure waters. 
• It was a way to cleanse him of all the sins. As soon as he dipped his hands into the waters the axe immediately got detached and since then the site where he washed his hands became a place of worship and came to be known by sadhus as Parashuram Kund. 
• Also there are many stories varying from region to region in India that describe the above incident .