‘Catching Fish’ Religious Performances In Public In Bhaktapur

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

If you happen to be in Bhaktapur in January, February, March and April of any year you would witness Navadurga troupe staging a religious-cum-entertaining show called ‘Catching Fish’ at one neighborhood or another. One mask dancer after another starting from the head of the troupe performs mask dances at the open place in the public. This tradition was set by one of the Malla kings in Nepal for safeguarding the citizenry from demons and evil spirits.

The main theme of the ‘Catching Fish’ is the reminder of how Sveta Bhairava has saved the Hindu world from the wrath of the almighty Goddess Mahakali after the Goddess has finished off the powerful demon king called ‘Mahisasur’ in the cosmic war against the demon king.

Sveta Bhairava wrapped in a white shawl covering his moustaches pretending to be a female moves on to cool down the anger of almighty Goddess Mahakali after She has killed Mahisasur. Goddess Mahakali has been destroying anything appearing in her way, and she has been moving very fast destroying anybody encountered in her way because of the intense anger at the demons. She was so angry. So, Lord Shiva in the guise of Sveta Bhairava has to soothe the anger of Goddess Mahakali.

According to a Hindu mythology, all the mighty Hindu deities together created almighty Goddess Mahakali to destroy the demon king Mahisasur when he threatened to wipe out the cosmic world of deities and rule the Hindu universe. So, she has eighteen limbs and each limb holds one or another weapon given by the deities. She represents nine goddesses together called Navadurga; so she has eighteen limbs.

From one to ninth number cover the entire universe, as no number exists after nine. So, the Navadurga troupe represents the entire universe, and has the power of the whole universe.

Almighty Goddess Mahakali has successfully annihilated the demon army and demon king Mahisasur in the cosmic world. However, she has not stopped her mission to kill everybody she has encountered even after killing Mahisasur, and has gone on killing anybody she has met on the way. Worried by the possible additional damage to the Hindu world, deities in the cosmic world assembled together and requested Lord Shiva to stop almighty Goddess Mahakali from doing any further harm to anybody in the Hindu world.

Accepting the plea of the Hindu deities to pacify almighty Goddess Mahakali, Lord Shiva transforms himself to Sveta Bhairava and covers his moustaches by a white shawl and tries to soothe almighty Goddess Mahakali. Sveta Bhairava stands in the way of Goddess Mahakali and mimics a ‘Catching Fish’, and pretends to have stomach ache after eating the fishes. Gradually, Goddess Mahakali cools down and a desire arises on her mind to know who exactly the person is that has been playing with her so much without fear and anxiety. In a surprise move, she removes the shawl Sveta Bhairava has been wrapping in and finds her own spouse in the guise of Sveta Bhairava, and comes to her senses and stops any further harm to anybody in the Hindu world.

Goddess Mahakali performs mask dances to the tune of a hand drum played by a drummer striking by both hands on two sides of a horizontal drum and to a small-sized cymbals played by another accompanying musician. She depicts the fighting against the demon army and then the demon king in her mask dances for several hours in the afternoon.

After the killing of the demonic king, Goddess Mahakali continued to dance depicting her mood of killing anybody coming in her way. With the idea of stopping her from doing any damages to the dwellers of the Hindu world, Sveta Bhairava dances to the tune of the drum and cymbals and tries to pacify her anger mimicking the ‘Catching Fish’, and eating the fish sewn to a wicker mat, and having a stomach ache after eating a fish caught in a wicker mat.

Then, dancing to the tune of music, in a surprise move, Goddess Mahakali removes the shawl Sveta Bhairava has been wearing in, and finds full view of her spouse Lord Shiva in Sveta Bhairava. She gets embarrassed by her own move and gets cooled down. Thus ends the performances of Goddess Mahakali.

Sveta Bhairava continues to perform this time to entertain the mundane people. He runs after the children teasing him. However, he never catches anybody on the run. He goes on after the children running at all directions. After several runs of this mimicking the ‘Catching Fish’, the performances of the ‘Catching Fish’ come to an end.

After the completion of performances of the ‘Catching Fish’, the Navadurga troupe returns to the god home. Residents of the neighborhood lead the troupe to the residence. Some of them playing local musical instruments on the way, other holding smoldering incense sticks in their hands giving off pleasant smells as the reverence to the Navadurga troupe lead the Navadurga troupe to the temple.

On the eve of the performances of the ‘Catching Fish’, the Navadurga troupe comes to stay over night at the main place of a neighborhood. Local residents welcome the troupe offering drinks and tidbits to the religious mask dancers, and make bonfires for keeping them warm in the chilly night. The mask dancers in turn perform their religious rituals in preparation for performing the ‘Catching Fish’ next day. An association called ‘guthi’ makes an offering of the sacrifice of a piglet. The leading mask deity called blue Bhairava (Brahamayani) takes the sacrifice of a piglet. He uses his nail finger to cut the skin of a piglet at the armpit and reaches his hand to the heart of a piglet and brings it out to offer it to the main presiding deity called ‘Siffa deo’. If he cannot cut the skin of a piglet by the fingernails then he uses one of the coins from the chain of coins he is wearing for cutting it but never uses a knife or any other cutting tools. Thereafter, the hands smeared with the blood of a piglet mix the flattened rice with yogurt in a brass bowl and offer it to ‘Siffa deo’ and then to the public as the blessing from the deities.

Next day, starting early in the morning, local residents make offerings to all deities put on display. The Navadurga troupe comprises eighteen deities. Fifteen of them are in masks and one hand drum, a pair of cymbals are also deities, and finally the Goddess Mahalaskmi called ‘Siffa deo’ embossed in silver metal presiding over the troupe. Nine goddesses called Navadurga, blue Bhairava, Sveta Bhairava, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Singhini (lion god) and Byaghini (tiger god) are in masks.

A woman attendant to each mask sits behind a mask, and collects the offerings made to the deity in a mask on the day of staging the ‘Catching Fish’ performances. The offerings comprise crunchy rice, black beans, pieces of ginger, a dried fish, and alcoholic drink altogether five items. These items together are tantric offerings and each item represents one of the five life supporting elements such as water, air, light (heat), earth (food) and mind; all these items together represent a human life. Other items such as a boiled then peeled and fried egg, a fish, a bean pancake and alcoholic drink together also considered as five items supporting life, as an egg contains two items, are also offered to each deity. These tantric offerings represent the life offering to the deities. Previously, tantricks used to offer their own lives to deities to please them and then receive merits from the deities.

On the day of the ‘Catching Fish’ performances, blue Bhairava or Brahamayani performs a mask dance to the tune of a hand drum and a pair of cymbals played by two deity musicians; then other deities such as Mahakali, Barahi, and Ganesh perform the mask dances in turn. Lord Ganesh has the rights to perform first and get offerings first, too. So, he performs a mask dance first. Then other deities follow him to perform mask dances.

Singhini (lion god) and Byaghini (tiger god) perform mask dances in preparation for performing the ‘Catching Fish’ performances. They perform mask dances to the tune of music played by two deity musicians and prepare for their ‘Catching Fish’ performances. Their ‘Catching Fish’ performances are for the entertainment of the children and other interested people. Sveta Bhairava performs the ‘Catching Fish’ performances after Singhini’ and Byaghini’ performance of the ‘Catching Fish’.

Starting on the first day of the month called Magha, the Navadurga troupe begins the ‘Catching Fish’ performances. The troupe first performs the ‘Catching Fish’ at Suryamadhi neighborhood: the eastern part of Bhaktapur. The troupe goes on doing so at other neighborhoods after an interval of certain number of days until the end of the season of performing the ‘Catching Fish’.

Every year the most spectacular performances of the ‘Catching Fish’ are held at Golmadhi and Ya-che neighborhoods. Golmadhi is the largest neighborhood having seven hundred houses. The Navadurga troupe receives largest offerings at Golmadhi, as every household makes once-a-year offerings to troupe on the day of performing the ‘Catching Fish’. Ya-che is not as large as Golmadhi but it is the birthplace of masks of the Navadurga troupe. So, the ‘Catching Fish’ performance has a special significance at this neighborhood. So, a large number of people from other neighborhoods also assemble at these two neighborhoods at the time of the performances of the ‘Catching Fish’.

The ‘Catching Fish’ performances end after staging it at the western neighborhood of Bhaktapur. By this time, all masks have aged drastically due to the wear and tear caused by the direct contact of offerings made to these masks and the heavy use of masks for performing the ‘Catching Fish’. Some masks even expose their interior item such as the linen. For more than three months, Bhaktapurians enjoy the watching of the performances of the ‘Catching Fish’.

Another widely popular performance is the ‘running after a piglet on the fenugreek field’ in the northwestern part called Byasi of Bhaktapur. Next to the current industrial estate in Bhaktapur, local farmers sow fenugreek seeds in the field at this area called Byasi. The Navadurga troupe holds the performance of ‘running after a piglet on the fenugreek field’ once a year.

A piglet is let loose at the fenugreek field for the members of the Navadurga troupe to run after it. The Navadurga troupe moves to this area in the morning and performs various regular mask dances at this area. Local people make once-a-year offerings to the Navadurga troupe. After the several religious rituals and mask dances, the troupe performs a ‘running after a piglet on the fenugreek field’. A large number of curious people gather there to watch the performance of the ‘running after a piglet on the fenugreek field’. The concerned responsible person for an association called ‘guthi’ set up for this event brings a piglet and following the instructions of the mask dancers lets it go free in the field. The confused piglet tries to escape from the circle of the curious onlookers while the mask dancers perform the dances of running after a piglet to the tune of music. After completing the rituals of the mask dances, someone catches the piglet and turns it over to the blue Bhairava or Brahamayani mask-wearing dancer to sacrifice it at the ‘Siffa deo’. He cuts the skin of the piglet at the left armpit and reaches the heart of the piglet and pulls it out, and offers it to the main deity ‘Siffa deo’. Then, he mixes flattened rice and yogurt in a brass bowl and distributes it to all the people around him.

The Navadurga troupe goes to Banepa and Panauti in the Kavre district, Sankhu and Deopatan in Kathmandu for enabling the local people to make offerings to the Navadurga troupe. At one time of the history of Nepal, all these areas were the parts of the Bhaktapur city-state. The Navadurga troupe holds its regular mask dances at these places. Local people make regular tantric offerings of crunchy rice, black beans, pieces of ginger, a dried fish, and alcoholic drink altogether five items or a boiled then peeled and fried egg, a fish, a bean pancake and alcoholic drink together also considered as five items supporting a human life, to the Navadurga troupe.

On the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Ashad (June) in the Nepal Sambat, all the deities of the Navadurga troupe take a shelter in water. This day is called ‘bhala bhala astami’. Some scholars believe that these deities do so to make sufficient water available to farmers during the rice seedlings transplanting season. So, believing the Navadurga troupe has taken a shelter in water, farmers in Bhaktapur never pollute the water reserved in the fields for rice seedlings transplantation.

From the day of the deities of the Navadurga troupe taking a shelter in water, Bhaktapurians wear a tri-color thread around their wrists. Men wear it around their right hands and women in their left hands believing it will protect them from the evil spirits. Each actors of the Navadurga troupe keeps a ball of tri-color (white, red and black) thread for distributing to the devotees at any time. Devotees in turn give a coin or a small bank note to the actor after receiving an about two feet long consecrated thread from him.

Actors of the Navadurga troupe release two small live fishes kept as the spirits of all the deities in the small stream flowing next to the field temple to Brahamayani in Bhaktapur making all the masks lifeless. The family of the actors of the Navadurga troupe cremates all the lifeless masks. They preserve all metallic parts and the uniforms for the next year. They launder their uniforms once a year after the cremation of masks.

Each deity has a one-meter high copper pot with a lid. Each actor stores his uniform in such a pot belonging to the deity he personifies. Each actor hangs the mask of the deity he personifies from a wooden peg above the copper pot. Thus, masks of all deities hang over their respective copper pot set up in a row following the protocol of the deities. All these masks are in the second floor dark hall of the three-storied temple to the Navadurga troupe at the neighborhood called Ga-che in Bhaktapur. These mask deities are open to the public for making offerings. Single mustard seed oil lights the whole hall. So, the soot from a mustard seed oil lamp has fully covered the hall making it darker.

Each goddess of the Navadurga troupe has her field shrine on the periphery of Bhaktapur. All these nine goddess have been protecting the citizenry of Bhaktapur from the evil spirits entering the town. Devotees make tantric offerings of various animals and birds to the deities made in stones at those field shrines. Bhaktapurians believe that the Navadurga deities are their guardians.

Each deity has also the town god house in other word a temple. Bhaktapurians have constructed a magnificent temple in the unique architecture of their own to each of the Navadurga troupe at a neighborhood not very far from the field shrine. Devotees go to make offerings to the metal figures of each of the deities of the Navadurga troupe at these temples.

Bhaktapurians go to the field shrines of all the nine deities in the early morning and in the evening during the nine days called ‘navarat’ of the Dasami festival. Getting up at the dark in the morning, devotees go to the shrines of the nine deities, and take a dip in the water of the stream next to the shrine or simply wash their faces visit the deity in the field shrine and then visit the deity in the town shrine in the evening starting to the deity Brahamayani on the first day of the ‘navarat’.

On the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Srawon (July), performers of the Navadurga troupe brings back the deities from water to surface keeping two live fishes as the divine spirits. This day is also known as ‘gatha muga’ festival. From this day on rice seedling transplantation is forbidden. People can play musical instruments and sing from this day on forbidden from the day called ‘bhala bhala astami’ after the cremation of all deity masks of the Navadurga troupe. Performers of the Navadurga troupe start rearing a male buffalo at the temple to the Navadurga troupe and then to make the sacrifice to the Navadurga troupe on the ninth night of the Dasami festival. This buffalo represents the demon king ‘Mahisasur’.

The Navadurga troupe comes to life on the ninth night of the Dasami festival. Artists make new masks of the Navadurga troupe at the neighborhood called Ya-che before the Dasami festival sets in, and make the display of those masks at a public place there on the ninth night of the Dasami festival. Devotees visit those fresh masks soon-to-be enliven by the divine spirits. On this night performers of the Navadurga troupe take those fresh masks to the field shrine to Brahamayani. Tantric priests called ‘acaju’ give a life to each mask.

On the afternoon of the ninth day of the Dasami festival, performers of the Navadurga troupe take the buffalo reared at the temple to the Navadurga troupe to the field shrine to Brahamayani. On the night, after the tantric priests have given the life to each mask of the Navadurga troupe, members of the performers of the Navadurga troupe accept the blood from the buffalo believed to have the spirit of the demon king ‘Mahisasur’. Thus, the Navadurga troupe comes back to life during the Dasami festival and starts the cycle of performances of the ‘Catching Fish’.

January 30, 2010