Chaksu Sheetla Mata Fair (Seel-ki-Doongri)

On a low rocky hillock called Seel-ki-Doongri, about 5 km short of Chaksu town and some 40 km south of central Jaipur along the old Jaipur–Kota road, stands a modest hill-shrine to Sheetla Mata that comes vividly alive once a year.

• This is not a Pink City monument; it is a rural pilgrimage hill in Jaipur district, reached by a climb up stone steps, where a compact temple crowns the ridge and the plains of eastern Rajasthan roll away below.
• For most of the year it is quiet, tended by local priests and a trickle of visitors.
• During the Chaitra fair it becomes one of the most thronged goddess gatherings in the Jaipur countryside.
• Sheetla Mata — her name is usually understood to mean "the one who cools" — is venerated across North India as a goddess associated with fevers, smallpox, measles and chickenpox, invoked both to prevent epidemics and to soothe those already stricken.
• Tradition holds that the hilltop shrine at Seel-ki-Doongri was raised under the patronage of Maharaja Madho Singh of Jaipur, and the site has drawn Chaksu-area villagers for generations.
• Present this legend as living faith rather than documented history: the appeal here is devotional and communal, not architectural grandeur.
• The fair falls in the Hindu month of Chaitra, in March or April, clustered around Sheetla Ashtami (Basoda).
• Families travel in from surrounding villages — many still arriving in decorated bullock-carts, a sight that gives the mela much of its rural character — to offer worship, share cold food cooked the previous night in keeping with Basoda custom, and let children loose among stalls of toys, bangles and sweets.
• Crowds can run into the tens of thousands on the main day, so go early and keep valuables close.
• For the vegetarian traveller the fair is comfortable ground: the Basoda offerings and the food sold here are entirely vegetarian, and no alcohol has any place in the observance.
• That said, treat roadside and fair-ground food with the usual caution — carry your own water and snacks, since the nearest kitchens we can vouch for as strictly pure-veg and eggless are back in Jaipur city, roughly 40 km north.
• Come for the atmosphere of a genuine Rajasthani village fair rather than for polished sightseeing.
• Pair it with the drive itself, dress modestly for a working temple, and plan a half-day round trip from Jaipur, ideally during the Chaitra fair window when the hill is at its most alive.