Bala-Chaturdasi: Sprinkling Seven Cereal Seeds

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Nepalis believe that souls of humans after death travel for a year before reaching their final destination called the world of the dead often dubbed as Yampuri, where Lord Yama Raj rules and judges them on the basis of their worldly deeds done in the mundane world. A popular belief is that sons, daughters and spouses performing various religious rituals during the year of his/her death ease the journey of a departed soul. So, we perform several religious rituals at different religious shrines. One such ritual performed on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight called Kachala ga in the Nepal Sambat (in the month called Mangsir in the Vikram calendar) is the sprinkling of seven cereal seeds. We call this day Bala-chaturdasi. This year Bala-chaturdasi falls on November 26, 2008.

As sons, daughters and spouses of any person died in the year, Ramesh, his sister and mother were preparing for going to perform the religious rituals of sprinkling of seven seeds called sat-bij in the name of their departed father on the day called Bala-chaturdasi in the Pashupati area in Kathmandu. Usually, such family members of a dead person go to the nearest holy shrine to Lord Shiva and sprinkle seven cereal seeds such as rice, wheat, corn, barley, sesame seeds and beans altogether called sat-bij in the name of the deceased person in the first year after the death. We believe that by doing so we help the souls of our loved-ones to travel to the final resting place called Yampuri: kingdom of Yam Raj.

Our Hindu belief is that Lord Yama Raj’s Minister called Chitragupta keeps the records of all humans from their birth to death. When a person’s term in the human world comes to an end, Chitragupta informs Lord Yama Raj, who in turn orders his messengers to bring the soul of the person from the Hindu world to his world called Yampuri. Lord Yama’s messengers come to the human world, and pick up the soul leaving the physical body behind causing the death of a person.

We Hindu Nepalis also believe in that these messengers of Lord Yama Raj take the soul through many hurdles such as thorny trails, and fiery treks, and let it cross the dreadful river called Baitarni on the way to the world of Yama Raj. In order to ease the difficult travel of the soul of a departed person on the way to the world of Lord Yama Raj, mourning sons, daughters and spouses perform various religious rituals during one-year travel period when the soul of a person after the death supposed to be traveling to Yampuri.

As most of the residents of the Kathmandu Valley, following the tradition Ramesh, his sister and mother go to the holy forest called Shlesmantak in the Pashupati area in Kathmandu on the eve of Bala-chaturdasi and spend a night there for performing rituals of sprinkling sat-bij next day. Some people from other areas of Nepal also come to this forest to perform rituals of sprinkling sat-bij in the names of the souls of their departed loved ones.

Ramesh is relatively a rich person can afford to carry a nice nylon tent and a kerosene bright light for spending a night at the Shlesmantak forest comfortably. However, most of the people come from the rural areas are not so fortunate. So, they usually light a torch made of a reed staff wrapped in cotton soaked in mustard seed oil for light at night, and spend a night in the open field. Some other people make bonfires collecting dried twigs.

Ramesh and his family members spend a night listening to the devotional songs played in the electronic device. Other people play a traditional musical instrument, chant hymns, sing devotional songs, and pray for the peace of the souls of departed loved ones the whole night. Keeping the whole night awoke is the part of the religious rituals performing the sprinkling of seven seeds.

Vendors put up tents for selling items of offerings and for serving food and drinks to pilgrims. So, unlike in the past, we do not need to carry with us all sorts of food and items of offerings with us. We can buy everything we need for performing the rituals of sprinkling seven seeds and the food we need. So, some of us spend the whole night singing and dancing to keep awake as the part of the religious rituals at the same time merrymaking.

Ramesh and his family members know that on the eve of Bala-chaturdasi, priests perform a purification ritual called “Maha-snan” means a special bath to the lingam (phallus) popularly known as the Pashupati in the inner sanctum of the temple located next to the Shlesmantak forest. So, they go to watch it.

In the process of “Maha-snan,” first, a priest cleans the lingam with holy water, and dries it with a piece of clean linen. Thereafter, the chief priest pours a bowl of one item after another on the lingam picking up one bowl after another from the five bowls of the holy items such as yogurt, milk, ghee (home-made butter), and honey and sugar syrup prepared for this occasion. They keep all these five items in separate five earthen bowls. These five items together are called “pancha-mrita.” Then, the priest dries the lingam with a piece of linen. All these items poured on the lingam flow to a container. Priests distribute the mixture of the five items in a container to devotees as the god-blessed item and the blessing from Lord Pashupati.

After the holy bath the priests decorate the lingam with silver ornaments. Thereafter, they make religious offerings to the lingam. We believe that the silver ornaments were originally made of the bones of Balasur: a crematorium guard turned into a human flesh eater.

Next day, Ramesh, his sister and mother dressed all in white (a mourning dress) go to sprinkle sat-bij. Early in the morning, first, they take a dip in the holy water of the Bagmati River to purify their bodies. Then, they make offerings to Lord Pashupati in the lingam decorated with silver ornaments. From there, they go to Kailash sprinkling sat-bij on the way, and make offerings to Lord Shiva there. From there, they move on to Suryaghat make offerings to the deity there, then on to Gaurighat, Aryaghat, Guheswori, Mrigasthali, Bisworup, and Kirantiswori. At each site, they perform worship to the deity there. We Hindus believe that all thirty-three koti (33,333) Hindu deities come to the Shlesmantak forest on this day to accept offerings. So, we have a chance of making offerings to all Hindu divinities in the names of our departed people.

Some of us believe that we can send messages to the souls of our departed loved-ones through the elephant-headed god called Ganesh at Mrigasthali, Kathmandu. So, Ramesh, his sister and his mother in turn shakes the stone idol of Lord Ganesh to wake him up and then shouts the messages in the ears of the idol believing in Lord Ganesh would pass on the message to the souls of the loved ones.

We have a legend about the origin of this religious festival. A man called Balananda served as a crematory guard at Aryaghat in the Pashupati area, Kathmandu. He became a human flesh eater. His friend became instrumental in killing him and later on emancipated his soul sprinkling sat-bij in his name setting the tradition of sprinkling sat-bij in the names of departed people.

One day, it so happened that the head of a burning dead body blew up and the splinters of the brain flew all over the area, landing a piece in the lunch box of Balananda without his notice while he was eating the lunch. He ate it unknowingly, and found it tasty.

Next time, he was tempted to taste a human flesh; so, he stole a piece of human flesh from the burning crematory for his lunch. In this way, he developed a taste for human flesh and was addicted to it.

Later on, he even assaulted the undertakers, and took the dead body for his meals. He became known as a demon called Balasur. He grew up so strong that nobody dared to challenge him. So, undertakers had to give in the dead body they took for cremation. Relatives of the dead could not perform death rites, and became afraid of the souls of the dead loved-ones would not rest in peace without the proper death rituals and rites performed. They therefore went to the local authority to complain on it, and demanded to get rid of Balasur: the human flesh eater.

Nobody dared to kill the demon. Finally, the local authority found the demon’s childhood friend who agreed to assist in eliminating Balasur by a trick. The best cook prepared a huge delicious meat dish and a jar of liquor for the demon. Then, the friend of Balasur went to see the demon with the delicious food and drink. The unsuspicious demon was happy to see his childhood friend and gladly accepted the food and the drink he offered to him. As the demon ate and drank, he got tipsy. Then, the local people killed him.

However, the friend of Balasur felt guilty of betraying the demon. Therefore, he went on meditating on Lord Shiva in atonement for a betrayal of a friend. In due course of time, Lord Shiva was pleased with him and appeared before him, and said, “My devotee, whatever you have wish in your mind, I am here to meet it.”

Joining palms together at his chest in the gesture of saluting Lord Shiva, the man explained to Lord Shiva what he did to the demon, and he wanted to free the demon’s soul from his past evil deeds.

Lord Shiva told the man to make ornaments from the bones of the dead demon and decorate the lingam (phallus) representing Lord Pashupati with those ornaments, and perform special offerings to the lord on the eve of the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight called Kachala ga in the Nepal Sambat (in the month of Mangsir in the Vikram calendar), and sprinkle sat-bij all over Shlesmantak forest the next day.

The friend of Balasur did what Lord Shiva told him to do to emancipate the soul of the dead demon from sufferings. Thereafter, Balasur’s soul rested in peace. We believe that Hindu Nepalis have set the tradition of sprinkling sat-bij since then.

We Hindu Nepalis believe that the souls of dead people rest in peace if the sons, daughters and spouses perform the sprinkling of sat-bij on the premises of the temple to Lord Shiva on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight called Kachala ga in the Nepal Sambat (in the month called Mangsir in the Vikram calendar). So, sons, daughters and spouses of all dead persons flocked to the premises of the temple to Lord Shiva all over Nepal on this day to sprinkle sat-bij and ease the souls of their dead loved-ones. We call this day by the name of Bala-chaturdasi. Bala is the name derived from Balasur; chaturdasi means the fourteenth day of a fortnight in the Nepal Sambat.