Chariot Festival of Seto Matsyendranath

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

The tradition of annual outing of only two Karunamayas (red and white) has continued even today. Such events are locally celebrated as the chariot festivals. During the last few years the Nevahs in Dolkha have revived the tradition of the festival of pulling the chariot of Matsyendranath in Dolkha, too. Matsyendranath is Karunamaya and vice versa. Nepalis use both the names for the same god.

Licchavi King Narendra Dev introduced the tradition of chariot festival of red Karunamaya in the seventh century. At that time people celebrated the festival for months pulling the chariot back and forth between Bungamati and Patan. The journey from Bungamati to Patan was a long and difficult one. They even had to cross the Nakhu River. The tradition of pulling the chariot from Bungamati to Patan and back to Bungamati continues even toady but only once every twelve year.

King Laksmi Narasimha Malla introduced the chariot festival of Seto Matsyendranath (white Karunamaya) of Kathmandu in the seventeenth century after Patan and Kathmandu split into two independent city-states. The bitterness between the Malla Kings of different city-states had reached so high that the residents of Kathmandu could not go to Patan to watch the chariot festival of red Karunamaya. So, King Laksmi Narasimha Malla set the tradition of holding the chariot festival of white Karunamaya in Kathmandu making the chariot of white Karunamaya identical to the chariot of the red Karunamaya in Patan.

The chariot festival of white Karunamaya lasts for three days. The trustees of association called ‘guthi’ responsible for holding the festival assemble the chariot at Jamal, Kathmandu. On the eighth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra in the Nepal Calendar, attendants to the deity carry the deity on a portable shrine following a special route to the chariot. Then, a state guard brings a sword called ‘khadga’ that represents the head of state to continue the tradition of the presence of a head of state on the chariot.

On the first day of the festival of the chariot pulling, the members of ‘guthi’ ceremoniously install the deity in the chamber of the chariot built at Jamal. Then, people pull the chariot up to the Ason tol. This is the first halt. The next day they pull it up to the old palace area. This is the second halt. On the third day, they pull it up to Lagan where the festival ends.

It might make several halts at any area, if a problem of breakdown of wheels or axels or obstruction on the way is encountered, as the chariot is so tall and the lane is so narrow. Some devotees attempt to make a deliberate halt at their neighborhood hiding the ropes used for pulling the chariot.

Devotees make offerings to the deity at each stop and on the way, too. Lighting of 108 small oil lamps is considered a special offering to Lord Karunamaya. So, wherever the chariot stops devotees rush to light 108 small lamps nearby the chariot.

The festival of pulling the white Karunamaya on a chariot ends at Lagan, Kathmandu. The Kathmandu Living Goddess Kumari presides over the concluding ceremony of the outing of white Karunamaya in Kathmandu. After the completion of outing, the Karunamaya travels back to the temple on a portable shrine carried by the attendants on shoulder poles.

The structure of the chariot of Karunamaya differs from other Nepalese temple style chariots. The Nepalese temple-styled chariots are usually of one to three-tiered chariots. The number of tiers depends upon the status of the deity that travels on a chariot. Almost all portable shrines used for carrying deities on shoulder poles are in a Nepalese temple style, too.

The chariot of Karunamaya is of the ‘sikhara’ style. It is a long spire with a chamber of the god on four wheels. The main temple of red Karunamaya in Bungamati also is of the ‘sikhara’ architecture; however, the divine’s another temple in Patan is of the Nepalese temple style. The temples of other Karunamayas are also of the Nepalese temple style.

Before the festival of pulling chariot of Karunamayas, all Karunamayas undergo the rituals of rebirth once a year. The first ritual they undergo is called a bathing ceremony. Each Karunamaya has a different date for this ceremony. Although the ceremony is called ‘bathing ceremony’, it is actually a ‘death and rebirth ceremony’.

For the bathing ceremony of the red Karunamaya in Patan, first, the priest with the use of Tantra transfers the divine spirit from the idol to a golden container called ‘kalasa’ at the temple to Karunamaya. Then, the spiritless idol is taken to the bathing platform at the Lagankhel a few hundred meters to the south of the temple in Patan. A traditional musical band plays a funeral tune when the lifeless idol of red Karunamaya is carried from the temple to Lagankhel for the annual bathing ceremony.

Thereafter, the priest takes the idol to a platform specially built for the bathing ceremony and gives it a holy bath before the general public. The Patan Living Goddess Kumari presides over the bathing ceremony of red Karunamaya.

Almost every locality has a living goddess Kumari. Living Goddess Kumari is another Tantric deity venerated by both Buddhists and Hindus. Her presence is necessary at any significant event in city-states during the reign of Malla kings and before. The tradition continues even today.

For the bathing ceremony of idol of white Karunamaya, the Kathmandu Living Goddess Kumari travels on a special chariot carried on shoulder poles from her divine house to Janbahal. The Living Goddess stays for the initial rituals, then she returns to her abode, leaving the ceremony to continue.

After the bathing ceremony, Buddhist priests cum artisans renovate the idol following the Tantric principles. The body of Karunamaya is made of clay and the legs are of copper. The artisans bring the clay from the special place called ‘mhapi’ following the Tantric principles, if it is necessary to plaster the body and legs with special clay and then paint them. The artisans keep themselves clean refraining from touching anybody during the period of rebuilding the idol to avoid any possible defilement.

After the renovation of an idol, the priests perform a ‘life-giving ceremony’ to it on the full moon day. They make an altar at the main entrance to the temple to make offerings called ‘puja’ following various Tantric rituals. Then, the priests transfer the divine spirit from the ‘kalasa’ to the idol giving the idol a new life again. They also perform ‘eye opening’ rituals to bring enlightenment to the idol.

The priests perform both Hindu and Buddhist male and female life-cycle rituals to the idol after giving it a new life. Vajracarya priests perform life-cycle rituals such as naming, rice feeding and adulthood ceremony called ‘cudakarma’. Hindu priests also perform such life-cycle rituals including an adulthood ceremony called ‘upanayan.’ They also perform the female adulthood ceremony called ‘Ihi’. It is a mock marriage performed to mundane virgin girls. After performing all the life-ceremonies, the idol becomes full-fledged Lord Karunamaya and is placed in the inner sanctum of the temple.

The Buddhist god called Avalokitesvara also known as Bodhisatava, whose mission is to enlighten all the living beings before getting self-enlightenment, has other identities, too. He is Matsyendranath: an incarnation of Lord Shiva to Saivities, Biranci-Narayan: an incarnation of Lord Visnu to the Vaisnavis, and Avalokitesvara to Vajrayan Buddhists. However, as Karunamaya, he is the universal compassionate god for all. The universally accepted God Karunamaya is worshipped for rains during rice plantation time, for good crops at the harvest time, and for good health during the summer and monsoon seasons. People of different sects worship him in different ways and in different names but he is always there for everyone to worship.

Karunamaya is the universally accepted deity worshipped by both Nepalese Hindus and Buddhists. He is known as Matsyendranath in Sanskrit and Macchendranath in Nepali to the Saivities, as Biranci-Narayan to Vaisnavis and as Avalokitesvara to Vajrayan Buddhists. Kanafata Yogis, Hindu priests, Vajrayan Buddhists and so on perform various Hindu and Buddhist rituals and make varieties of offerings to this deity.

Buddhists not only in Nepal, but also in all other countries where Mahayan faith prevails worship Karunamaya in the name of Avalokitesvara. The tradition of revering Avalokitesvara began a few centuries before the Christian era. Gradually, the deity assumed different names in different countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Tibet and Central Asia.

In Nepal, the deity became more important than before when Mahayan Buddhism began embracing Tantrism and Mahayan developed into Vajrayan. Believers of other sects such as Saivities then began accepting Avalokitesvara as the incarnation of Lord Shiva and called Him Matsyendranath. Vajrayan Buddhists and the Nath sect of Saivities have many Tantric rituals common to each other.

During the reign of King Narendra Deva in the seventh century Saivities began worshipping Avalokitesvara in the name of Matsyendranath. They brought Lord Matsyendranath from Kamarupa where Avalokitesvara and Matsyendranath were worshipped in the third century before the Christian era. Lord Gorkhanath released Nagas after the arrival of his guru Lord Matsyendranath ending the 12-year drought. Kamarupa is the current Gauhati of Assam State in India.

During the Malla rule starting in the eighth century and ending in the mid eighteenth century when the rulers believed in Tantra, both Hindu and Buddhist Tantric deities brought close to each other for the religious harmony among the people. In the mid eighteen century, Prithvi Narayan Shah set up a trust called ‘guthi’ to worship Matsyendranath: the guru of his ancestral and tutelary deity called Lord Gorkhanath by Kanafata Yogis following the Tantric rituals.

Nepal has many Karunamayas. Almost every locality has a white or red Karunamaya. Only the locals know most of them, therefore, they are not so popular among the people in general. The most famous of them, however, are the red Karunamaya of Patan and the white Karunamaya of Kathmandu. Other two popular Karunamayas are the red Karunamaya on the Covar hill: a few kilometers south of Kathmandu, and the white Karunamaya in Nala: a few kilometers away from Bhaktapur. All the sects of Nepalese Hindus and Buddhists revere them.

April 2, 2010.

Kathmanduites have celebrated the chariot pulling festival of Seto Matsyendranath from March 23 through March 25, 2010.