This fascinating festival lasts for eight-long days and is celebrated by the entire Nepalese people in one form or another throughout the Kingdom of Nepal. Some of the interesting aspects of the celebration of this festival are the erecting of several small ceremonial poles displaying the statues of lndra and Bhairava, the God of Space. the staging of the traditional devil and deity dances followed by fabulous feast and festive feelings.
Though this kind of ceremonial activity is seen almost in every neighbourhood in the Kathmandu Valley. yet the most enjoyable place for this festive event is the Hanuman Dhoka area. Some of the most fascinating items one should not miss to observe on this occasion are the huge image of Hathu Deo or Aakas Bhairava at Hanuman Dhoka. the image of gigantic Aaju Deo at Indrachowk, the life-size statue of Lord Indra installed on the high wooden pillar top near the Kathmandu temple. which is said to be built from timber of a single tree, the Mahakali dance from Bhadgaon and the Bhairava dance from Halchowk and Dashavatara dance of Lord Vishnu. which are staged right in the vicinity of the Hanuman Dhoka. The third day of the festival is the most important day. i It s on this day that the chariot festival of Kumari (the living Goddess), Bhairava and Ganesh takes place. According to the time-honoured tradition, His Majesty the King along with Her Majesty the Queen graces the occasion with great pleasure. The Gaddibaithaka Hall gets fully packed with the distinguished guests, diplomats, higher government officials and the like. The beginning point of this chariot festival is the Vasantapur Square, which is right across from the famed temple of living Goddess and the time for this ceremonial function to start is roughly around 1 p.m. However, it all depends upon the ritual performance of the big Puja that takes place in the Kumari temple on this day
Origin
This festival has a very antique origin. According to some Vedic scholars there are many references to the celebration of this festival in the Rigveda. However, it is quite true that more than one fourth of the mantras of the Rigveda are all dedicated to Lord Indra, who is the most highly honoured God of the Vedic age.
It must be remembered here that Indra is honoured in Nepal more as a god of rain and foOdgrain than in any other form. In the Rigveda there are many references to his being a great giver of rain and foodgrain. Besides, he is also highly praised for his bravery. He is said to have bravely beheaded several demons like Vritra, Uran, Shunsa and so forth. Symbolically speaking, these demons are none other than drought and excessive rain and so forth, which might put people in trouble whose only way of livelihood is agriculture. Looked at from a historical viewpoint, this festival appears to be very old and closely associated with the agricultural life of the people.
The Bhavishya Purana contains a description of this festival. The Mahabharata also speaks very highly about the significance of this festival. According to this great Hindu epic. Chediraj Vasu was the first king to introduce this festival for public celebration. This great epic has made the mention of all those kings who celebrated this festival with great feelings and faith. It is also written in the same text that the kings who maintain the tradition of celebrating this festival will be lucky enough to see the powerful rivers of milk and honey flowing incessantly through their kingdoms.
Significance
The Bhavihsya Purana says that the ceremonial pole which is erected on the first day of this festival should be divided into several segments or puras. It must be remembered here that the word pura which is used above in the sense of segment is also used to signify a city state. It is quite interesting to note that one of the very old Vedic names of lndra is Purandara, which means a great destroyer of several city-states. Most probably, those small city-states were all ruled by non-Aryan kings or Dravidian chiefs. In the Vedas, the valiant fighter king lndra is said to have 99 hands, which he used in destroying several of his enemy city-states. However, it is said that lndra was able to work out his ambitious plan only after he had received a great banner from Lord Vishnu. This is the reason why Nepalese have so much respect for this Indra, Dhoja (banner) which they believe to symbolise unity, strength and peace for all.
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