Pandhurna (MP), Sep 3 (PTI) More than 250 persons were injured, five of them critically, on Tuesday during the traditional 'Gotmar' or stone-fight festival at Pandhurna in Madhya Pradesh.
The chief event of the festival is two groups of people, divided by a river, hurling stones at each other.
The tradition is being followed for almost three centuries.
This was the first time the event took place after the new Pandhurna district was carved out, noted Superintendent of Police Sundar Singh Kanesh.
Some 280 persons were injured, he said, adding that five persons who received serious injuries were hospitalised in Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra.
The festivities ended in the evening after worshipping a `palash' tree, he added.
Besides 500 cops, 16 ambulances, doctors and paramedic staff, drone cameras too were pressed into service this time.
The tradition started some 300 years ago when a boy from Pandhurna, the story goes, abducted a girl from neighbouring Sawargaon, and faced a volley of stones while crossing the river with her before residents of his village came to his rescue.
No girl-abduction is involved now. Instead, rival groups from Sawargaon and Pandhurna villages gather on either side of the Jaam river, and race to snatch a flag hoisted on a dead tree standing midstream while stones are hurled from both sides.
People have also lost their lives during the festival in the past. PTI COR ADU KRK
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