A girl performs pindaan rituals in Gaya on Sunday. Picture by Suman

The district administration and Gayapal pandas, the local priests, cannot agree on the number of visitors at the annual Pitripaksh Mela this year.

The fair, which commenced on September 8, would continue for three more days.

District magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal told The Telegraph that the mela area has expanded up to Bodhgaya this year and all hotels in Bodhgaya and Gaya are booked to capacity.

“Pilgrims even arrived in Gaya by a couple of chartered planes to perform the pinddaan rituals. There has been an increase in the number of vehicles getting registered at the entry point barriers, where service fee is collected. It reflected an increasing trend after Navami (ninth day of Ashwin month according to Hindi calendar) and now the inflow is on its peak,” said Agarwal.

Gayapal pandas, however, have a different take.

Gopal Lal Mahto, a Gayapal panda, said the mela was limited to Vishnupad temple till around five years ago but has now expanded up to Bodhgaya. “The administration arranged for pilgrims’ accommodation in Nyingma monastery in Bodhgaya and other places in Gaya town apart from some good hotels. Pilgrims stayed at scattered places, giving the pandas the impression that the inflow was less this year. Pinddaan is performed throughout the year, which can be cited as another reason for the trend for more than five years. Several pilgrims feel that it was difficult to get good accommodation and train tickets during Pitripaksh. So, they prefer to visit Gaya other than the Pitripaksh period,” Mahto said.

On the other hand, a senior member of Gayapal panda samaj, Mahesh Guput, said he had hired houses or dharamshalas at 16 different places to accommodate more than 2,000 pilgrims. “I had hired the accommodation centres considering the inflow during Pitripaksh. But till today (Sunday), hardly around 1,000 pilgrims arrived to perform pinddaan rituals. Natural calamities such as flood and drought in different parts of the country had an adverse impact on the inflow,” said Guput.

Another Bachnu Dhokdi, a panda of Bengali Ashram, said there were at least four big dharamshalas, where more than 3,000 pilgrims could be accommodated. “But less than 2,000 pilgrims arrived in Gaya this time. Mostly pilgrims from Bengal come and stay in our dharamshalas. Several pilgrims arrive in groups by buses. The number of buses was also less this year,” Dhokdi said.

Neither the administration nor the pandas have any means to substantiate their claims on the number of visitors.