Originally, the venue of the Cattle Fair was Hajipur. Only the ritual ceremonies used to take place at the Harihar Nath temple of Sonepur. Under the rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the venue got shifted to Sonepur.
Locals say that the temple of Harihar Nath is originally built by Lord Rama. Later, Raja Man Singh got the temple repaired.
The Harihar Nath temple, as it stands today, was built by Raja Ram Narain.
The event, according to Hindu mythology, also commemorates the intervention of Lord Vishnu to end a great curse and long fight between elephant. The elephant was saved, after bathing in the river and being attacked by the crocodile, by Lord Vishnu.
