Residents of a village, Yelegaon in Hingoli district of Maharashtra do not sell milk and give away the product for free to anyone who is in need. The villagers claim to be descendants of Lord Shree Krishna.
“The name of the village Yelegaon Gawali itself means a village of milkmen. We consider ourselves descendants of Lord Krishna and hence, we don’t sell milk,” said Rajabhau Mandade (60), one of the residents of the village.
“The festival of Janmashtami is celebrated on a large scale in the village, which has a Krishna temple. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all functions have been cancelled,” he added.
Although 90 percent of the houses in the village have cattle, none of the residents sell milk and the tradition has been followed for generations.
Sarpanch of Yelegaon Shaikh Kausar (44) said the tradition of not selling milk has been followed by all villagers irrespective of their religion. “None of the villagers, whether Hindus, Muslims or those belonging to any other religion, sell milk from their cattle”, Kausar said.
Yelegaon village is located in Ardhapur Tehsil of the Nanded district in Maharashtra, India. It is situated 9km away from sub-district headquarter Ardhapur and 6km away from district headquarter Nanded. As per 2009 stats, Yelegaon village is also a gram panchayat.
The village has a total population of 4,886 peoples. There are about 1,013 houses in Yelegaon village. As per 2019 stats, Yelegaon villages come under Bhokar assembly & Nanded parliamentary constituency. Nanded is the nearest town to Yelegaon which is approximately 6km away.
