Indra Jatra Festival in Kathmandu Valley
AN INSIGHT OVERVIEW ON INDRA JATRA FESTIVAL
As soon as the monsoon season ends, Kathmandu Valley gears up for a number of festivals. The first among them is Indra Jatra— the exciting festival of chariot processions, masked dances, religious enactments, lights, colour and Living Goddess Kumari as the center of celebrations. Also referred to as ‘Yenya Punhi’, the festival of Indra Jatra held in September (from the day of the Bhadra Dwadasi to Ashwin Krishna Chaturdashi) each year is primarily celebrated in honour of the rain god—Indra. Indra is the Lord of Rain and the king of Heaven. Jatra is procession. Indra Jatra is celebration of Lord Indra’s Day. This also marks the beginning of a month-long festival season of autumn.
An eight day long festival begins with the carnival-like erection of The Linga (Yahsingh), a ceremonial pole, accompanied by the rare display of the deity Akash Bhairav, represented by a massive mask spouting Jaad and Rakshi (Nepali local liquors). The pole bears a banner known as ‘hari patah’ which is kept inside the old Malla palace during the rest of the year. The banner is under the supervision of Guthi Sansthan-state regency in charge of religious endowments. The eight signs of good luck ‘asta mangala’ are painted on this piece of cloth. Branches and fruits especially Bhogate-a kind of pommel, evidently symbols of fertility, as well as a small national flag are fixed on the top of the Yashi—a pine tree (sal) selected a year before the festival from a small forest called Yashi Gu near Nala. Traditionally the representatives of the nine Manandhars (oil-pressers) wards of Kathmandu participated to its selection. A goat was set free in the above mentioned forest and the tree against which the goat rubbed its back was chosen. Nowadays the rituals have been simplified and the selection of the tree (and its transport) has been given in contract to a person belonging to another caste group. Once cut, the tree is shaped into a pole and carried by the army (formerly by the Manandhars) to Thimi, a large village between Bhaktapur and the capital and then to Kathmandu, the pole is first brought to the northern part of the old city near Bhotahity on Kaya Asthami-the eight day of the bright half of Bhadra. Four days later, it is taken through Indrachowk to Hanumandhoka, near the statue of Kal Bhairav for erection. For the pole-raising ceremony, hundreds of spectators gather at the Palace Square and on the surrounding temples. The chariot of Kumari, the Living Goddess, is taken out in a procession through the main streets of Kathmandu. Masked dancers known as Lakhey take to the streets almost every evening accompanied by loud drums.
STORY BEHIND INDRA JATRA
At the feet of Indra’s pole of Hanumandhoka is placed a small iron cage in which Lord Indra mounted on his elephant and facing west, is represented with his arms out-stretched, bound with ropes as a sign of captivity. This statue is worshipped daily in the morning and evening by a Parbatiya Brahman appointed by the Narayan Hiti Palace. The priest also makes daily offerings to the Asta Matrika goddesses and the Asta Bhairav. These gods are represented by eight small posts which are stuck around the ceremonial pole just after his erection on the first day of the festival.
According to a legend, Lord Indra one day went to the Kathmandu valley to gather the flowers of ‘Parijat’ tree for his mother. Indra descended into the valley hidden in a cloud. Unfortunately, a Kathmandu peasant surprised him at the moment he was stealing the flowers in Maruhiti tole. The god was taken prisoner in front of the Aakash Bhairav temple and was exposed to the eyes of the population for seven days, his arms tied to a pole.
On the eight day, Indra’s mother, Dagini, worried about the absence of her son, also went to Kathmandu. The king realized his error and proposed to Indra to release him on two conditions: that the god come back to the capital every year to be exhibited as a prisoner and that he provide the peasants sufficient fog and dew in winter for the crops to mature. Indra accepted. His mother also promised to lead the inhabitants of Kathmandu to heaven to meet their deceased relatives. Lord Indra was venerated by the crowd; then he and his mother mounted on the white elephant Airavata, at Kilagal and left the inhabitants of Kathmandu near the temple of Nardevi (Neta Maru Ajima) constructed at the western limits of the city. The inhabitants followed her when she departed with Indra. But when they reached the top of the hill from which they were to ascend to heaven, she informed them that they could not enter heaven without first bathing in a pond called ‘Indra Daha’ to purify themselves. While they were bathing in the pond, they were enveloped by a thick mist. Taking advantage of this she escaped to heaven with Indra.
CELEBRATIONS ON FULL MODE
Today, Kathmandu celebrates Indra Jatra which, fused together with the festival of the living goddess Kumari, and the epic of the Nepali King Yalambar who was slain by Krishna at the battle of the Mahabharata, is Nepal’s most colourful celebration. Everyone, from the king, the royal family, ministers, government servants, the general public-even foreign diplomats, are involved. One of the main events of the festival of the jatra is the Kumari Jatra, or Kumari Festival (also called the Rath Jatra, or Chariot Festival), which occurs on the third and fourth days of the Indra Jatra. One of the primary events of the Kumari Jatra is the pulling of the three-tiered chariot bearing the Royal Kumari's ornate palanquin through Kathmandu.
During the three days of the festival, the Royal Kumari is carried through the streets of Kathmandu; she is attended by two other living gods, Ganesh and Bhairav. These two boys are selected in much the same way as the Royal Kumari, but as they are of lesser importance do not live in their own palaces, but with their parents and have few ceremonial duties save the Indra Jatra festival. Ganesh is the son of Durga, or Parvati, and the son of Shiva. He has the head of an elephant because, after he was created from dust by Durga, he blocked the way when his father came back. Shiva, flying into a rage that he could not enter his home, cut off the boy’s head. At the insistence of Parvati, he brought him back to life but, being unable to find the head, he instead gave him the head of a white elephant. Bhairav, or Kumar, is a manifestation of Shiva himself. The festival of Indra Jatra ends with the lowering of the (lingam) pole bearing Indra's flag amidst religious ceremonies.
For this is the time of the year when the king receives the blessings of the Kumari who places tika on his forehead. Superstition, well supported by strange circumstance or coincidence, enhances the belief that the Kumari, in fact, bestows upon the king the right to rule for another year. When, on occasion, she has mistakenly placed tika on the wrong forehead dire consequences have resulted.
This too is the time when all the valley’s Bhairav masks are displayed, particularly the great silver mask that Yalambar wore to battle, and the even larger, bejewelled golden mask of the white Bhairav in the old palace.
All over the valley, in city, town and village are strange erections of wood, like wayside crucifixions, to which are tied masked dummies representing the captive Indra. Numerous images of other gods are brought out to watch the festival, for nobody, not even the hosts of heaven, would like to miss so wondrous an event. During Indra Jatra, there are a variety of performances including the dances of Sawa Bhakku Bhairav from Halchowk, Majipa Lakhey from Majipat, Devi Nach and Yeravat hathi (Pulukisi) from Naradevi, Mahakali and Kathi Maka Nach from Bhaktapur. All the dances take place around Hanuman Dhoka area. The Dasavatar or the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu is also staged every night.
When the festival is done, the great pole is taken in procession to the river Bagmati where it is immersed, cut into pieces to feed the perpetual flame that burns at yet another Bhairav shrine on the river bank. So much for the living, for whom the Indra and Kumari jatras are carnivals of numerous attractions: dances representing the demons Lakhey and Dagini, enactments of the mortal incarnations of Vishnu, folk dramas, processions of masked ‘deities,’ a dancing elephant made of bamboo, painted cloth and human legs, and the massive trundle of the Kumari’s rath, followed by lesser chariots of the living Ganesh and Bhairav, virgin boys selected in much the same way as the Kumari. And there is the king who can be seen more closely and more relaxed than at any other official occasion.
For the dear departed are processions of lights and symbolic processions of men and women, holding onto each other in the way the spirits of old held hopefully to the sari of Indra’s heaven-bound mother Dagini. There are prayers and fasts and feasts, and finally every bereaved family sends at least one member to the mountain top lake where the spirits once fell.
INDRA JATRA IN BHAKTAPUR
As in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur also erects ceremonial poles to signify the start of the festival. The poles are placed at several places in Bhaktapur and the lingo is taken as the symbol of Yama, the god of death. The ceremonial pole event is known as Yama Dya; Thanegu,
Devotees visit Narayan temples on the third day of the procession and many observe this day by sowing tulasi. The procession ends at the biggest human made pond of Bhaktapur named Ta: Pukhu (Siddhapokhari). It used to be called Indra Daha in ancient times. The festival ends where the statue of the Indrayani is left over there, overnight in an open building, a phalcha.
Bhaktapur also has Pulukisi, which is a bit different from that of Kathmandu. The Pulukisi is taken out for procession where it behaves rudely, causing problems.
Indra Jatra is also observed in some districts of Terai of Nepal as Indra Puja. According to the local traditions, rituals are different from those in the Kathmandu valley. The end of the Indra Jatra festival heralds the beginning of Dashain and Tihar celebrated with great enthusiasm not only in the Kathmandu Valley but throughout the country.
