Memories of Celebrating Early Dashain

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Heavy and sometimes continuous monsoon rains have gone, the sky has been clear, muddy roads have been dry and clear. The time has been for us to enjoy flying kites. We become busy with sharpening and strengthening the threads and then rolling them in a small hand drum with a wooden axle for holding it in between thumbs and index fingers of our both hands for rolling in and out the thread for flying kites. As soon as afternoon wind starts we become active to fly kites. This is the harbinger of Dashain for us children. The fifteen-day festival is not far away from us.

Our father buys some new cloths. Then, the family tailor comes to our house and takes the measurement of our bodies and then he cuts the cloth following the measurements he has just taken. We are on the first floor, as tailors are not supposed to go beyond the first floor at that time. We are going to have new dresses for the Dashain festival. We are in the mood of celebrating the festival.

Our mothers and grandmothers have been busy with brewing and distilling alcoholic drinks. First, they soak rice in water and then stem it in an earthen pot placed on a copper pot in which water is boiled for stem. Thereafter, they spread the stemmed rice on a white linen spread on the floor. After some time the stemmed rice gets cooled. Then, one of our mothers or the grandmother pulls together the spread rice and then mix it with locally made yeasts, and then put it in an earthen pot, and cover it with a blanket. After a week, rice beer (sweet or otherwise) called ‘thone’ is ready for serving during the festival feasts. Second, they stem split millets, and then follow the methods of fermenting rice, and distilled it for preparing liquor called ‘aila’. The spirit-content in it varies from 45 to 60 percent. These two different fermented and distilled drinks are essential for making offerings to Goddess Durga Bhavani during the Dashain festival.

A few days before the Dashain feast, the family prepares flattened rice. Some members of the family boil not husked rice called paddy and keep it in a pot for a day. Then, after midnight a woman roasts it in two clay pots and pour the roasted paddy on a wooden large mortar and two women each holding a wooden pestle pound it in turn, and prepare flattened rice. We don’t eat cooked rice during the three main festival days believing that it will defile our body so we serve flattened rice with many other meat, beans and vegetable dishes.

Everybody is in the festive mood. Everyone gets up early in the morning and tries to finish the job they have in hands so that they have enough money to spend on the festivities and they will not need to worry about the unfinished work.

Dashain is a fifteen-day festival. It starts on the first day of the bright fortnight of Aswin (September-October) and ends on the full moon day. On the first day, every household invokes Goddess Durga Bhavani following the family tradition, and then disposes the leftovers on the full moon day ending the festival.

Our family tradition of invoking Goddess Durga Bhavani is to set up an earthen pot with a lid and then a number of clay bowls for germinating barley plants in it. So, our father buys an earthen pot and an earthen lid, and a number of clay bowls. Potters bring a large number of such pots, lids and bowls to sell at the neighborhood market on the first day of the Dashain festival.

Following our tradition, one of the female members of the household performs the rituals of invoking Goddess Durga Bhavani on the first day of the Dashain festival. She cleanses her body taking a dip in the waters of stream or manually showering her body drawing the water from a well or taking a shower under a stone waterspout. Then, she collects fresh sands from the nearest riverbed and brings it home, puts it in the earthen pot and then on clay bowls, she sprinkles the barley seeds in them and then holy water. This is done in the morning well before eating or drinking anything, as eating and drinking will defile the body and the deity will not accept any offerings you make after defiling your body. We believe that Goddess Durga Bhavani comes to dwell in the clay pot and bowls. Since then we have to offer holy water in the morning and then lights in the evening to the Goddess in the pot during the festival period.

On the first night of the Dashain festival, the nine-night festival called ‘nava-rat’ also starts. During the nine nights, we visit a field shrine to one goddess or another of the nine goddesses together called ‘Navadurga’ troupe following their hierarchy of the goddesses in the early morning before dawn and a town abode in the evening.

Early in the morning still in darkness we take a bright lamp with us to go to the field shrine to Goddess Brahmayani on the first day. Some of us take a dip in the water of the stream flowing nearby; others simply wash their faces. Then, we go to the goddess and pray to her. Some people move in groups playing traditional flutes, drums and cymbals. Women join such a musical troupe and follow the musical band. In the evening, we go to the city abode of the goddess and offer prayer to her. This we do to all the nine goddesses visiting one goddess after another following the night dedicated to one goddess or another.

Starting on the fourth day of the Dashain, our father and uncles become busy with buying a male goat, a male chicken and a male duck at the bird and animal markets. We need to sacrifice these birds and animal to the different deities on different days following our family tradition set by our forefathers. So, for a few days before Dashain we need to live with those birds and the animal and have patience to listen to them.

Other members of the household particularly the women become busy with doing laundry, cleaning rooms, and the whole house. They also smear the inner walls of a whole house with white clay, and smear the floor with the mixture of red clay and cow dung. Previously, every family needs to go to the areas where white and red clay are available to collect these two items. Usually tenant farmers do such sorts of tasks for the landowners in those days.

On the sixth day, a group of people goes to buy a male buffalo at the buffalo market set up especially for the Dashain festival. Members of an association called ‘guthi’ come together to buy a buffalo for Dashain. Every member of such an association signs up for the amount of money s/he wants to buy the meat of a buffalo. A group of volunteers go with the total money and buy a buffalo.

On the seventh day, some people do it on the eighth day, the members of ‘guthi’ slaughter the buffalo, skin it and cut the meat into small pieces, and divide the whole meat into a number of portions: each portion of a certain money value. Every one of the ‘guthi’ members collects one portion or more depending on s/he has signed up for.

Every one of us children has a baked clay hand drum shaped in an hourglass. We need a thin buffalo-stomach membrane to set on both sides of our clay hand drum. So, we go around the people working with the slaughtered buffalo requesting for a piece of membrane to cover both sides of our drums. Then, we dry our hand drum with the thin layer of membrane on both sides in sun and attach one corn each at the ends of both the thread coming from the middle of the drum when we play it the corns at the ends of threads hit both the ends of the drum and produce musical sound during the Dashain festival. We do it only during the Dashain festival.

Then, a woman welcomes the buffalo meat at the main door to the house. She performs certain rituals that ward off any unwanted spirits coming with it. She sprinkles water on the left and right and then throws husks of the flattened rice to the left and right and then let in the person carrying the meat to the house. Then, they cook certain meat for feasting on in the evening, and the rest goes to storage and remains untouched for four days.

In the evening, all members of the family sit together and feast on the meat, bean and other festive dishes. We start with sipping some ‘aila’ and then eating the flattened rice with the meat and gravy, and then go on drinking ‘thone’ while eating different dishes. Someone serves ‘thone’ continuously to keep the bronze or clay bowls full. Thus, our Dashain feast starts on the seventh day.

On the eighth day morning, all children dressed in new clothes prepare for going to make the sacrifice of a male goat to our business deity called Bhimsen. We deck the male goat out with a garland of flowers, and mark its horns with red and yellow paste. Sometimes we children fight with each other claiming to pull the goat to the shrine to the god.

One of our female members of the house goes to make offerings to the god of first offering called Ganesh at the neighborhood, as none of our deities accept offerings made to them without making first offerings to Lord Ganesh. Even before making offerings to Lord Ganesh we need to make a half offering to Lord Kumar. So, she carries the half offering on her right hand and drops it off at the circle with eight petals carved in a flagstone set at the main entrance to the house. This eight-petal circle represents Lord Kumar that resides at the main entrance to our houses to receive the first offering. She then proceeds on to make offerings to Lord Ganesh.

On return from Lord Ganesh, she makes offerings of the leftovers to the male goat we have been holding in preparation for going to the shrine to Lord Bhimsen. The patriarch comes down with a bronze plate full of different items of offerings, and someone follows him with other items of offerings. Then two volunteers come with a shoulder pole to carry the goat home after sacrificing it to Lord Bhimsen.

We pull the goat ahead of the patriarch, and others follow him. Everybody goes with barefoot; as we would defile the items we carry if we wear shoes. We are in hurry to be in line for making offerings to Lord Bhimsen. A line of people waiting for making offerings to Lord Bhimsen is very long, as many people doing business of trade makes offerings to Lord Bhimsen on this day.

When our turn comes, the patriarch makes offerings to Lord Bhimsen, then to the knife set at next to the deity and finally to the goat we pulled to the shrine. He makes offerings to the knife for invoking Lord Bhairava in it. Then, the man slitting the throat will not be committing a sin by taking the life of a goat.

After completing the making of offerings to Lord Bhimsen, the patriarch makes offerings to the goat for its approval for sacrificing it to the deity. Nobody makes sacrifice of a goat to a deity without its approval. In case, a goat fails to give its approval then we leave it to live for its life in the name of the deity we dedicate it to.

After making offerings of various items to the goat, the patriarch sprinkles holy water on the body of the goat, and waits for the goat shaking its body as an approval. If it shakes its body means it has given its approval for sacrifice. So, everybody waits for the goat to give its approval. If it does not someone starts sprinkle more holy water on its body and even then it does not shake its body, then put water in its ears and on other parts of its body. Finally, the goat gives in and shakes its body vigorously. Everybody is happy and jubilant and waits for the man slitting the throat of the goat.

Then, the man takes the goat and puts it on his left thigh, and holds its mouth by his left hand, turns it up and takes the knife and touches it on his head and then slits the throat of the goat letting the blood to flow to Lord Bhimsen in stone. Someone holds the four feet of the goat together to ease slitting the throat of the goat. After making the offerings of the blood to the main deity, then, the pair of the men holding the goat goes round the shrine means making the blood offering to other deities around the shrine. Bringing the goat back to the main deity, the man separates the head of the goat from its body and places it at the deity. Then, he cuts a piece of the tail and inserts it in the mouth of the goat. The patriarch lights a bunch of wicks soaked in oil and puts it on the head of the severed head of the goat. It means the soul of the goat has been enlightened and merged with the deity. The deity blesses the goat’s head and body. So, we eat the meat of the goat thus sacrificed to the deity as the blessings from the god.

The two volunteers bind the four legs of the goat to the shoulder pole and then they carry it on their shoulders to our home. They take it to the backyard, and cover it with rice or wheat straw and then burn it. After completely burning all the hairs from the goat, one of them mixes the straw ashes with water and smears it on the goat. Then, they wash it with water, and shave off any hair left on the goat.

Then, we hold a morning feast called ‘samaya bhoya’. We cook the goat meat, other bean and vegetable dishes. ‘Samaya’ means god-blessed food and comprises flattened rice, roasted goat meat taken out from the neck, roasted black soybeans and pieces of raw ginger. We eat ‘samaya bhoya’ with other bean dishes drinking ‘thone’ or ‘aila’ as we like.

We children become busy with flying kites all day while most of the adults are engaged in one activity or another of the Dashain festival. Some of the adults also join us to fly kite. However, most of the adults are boozing all day. So, sometimes drunk adults spoil our enjoyment in kite flying. The sky is filled with various sorts of kites. We enjoy cutting each other’s kites. If we cut another’s kite means a great achievement, and take a great pride in it. Sometimes we even forget to eat and drink while flying kites.

On the evening of the eighth day, we hold an elaborate feast called ‘kuchi bhoya’. All the family members sit in a row following the family hierarchy. The patriarch sits at the top of the row, then the second person in the family hierarchy and so on, and at the end of the row sits the spouse of the patriarch.

We serve food on banana leaves for the feasts during the three main days of the Dashain starting on the evening of the eight-day and ending on the tenth day. We also serve feast on banana leaves to deities on these days.

Our family tradition has it that the patriarch makes offerings of feast on small pieces of about two inches squares of a banana leaf to twelve deities and one large portion to the ancestors. He puts small portion of each dish we prepared for the feast on each of the small pieces of a banana leaf and then on the large piece of a banana leaf including a portion of flattened rice for our ancestors.

Then, a volunteer usually one of the female members of the household sets one piece of banana leaf at each seat of the family members. Then, she takes a wooden grain-measuring pot and fills it with flattened rice, and pours it on each of the banana leaf set at each seat of the family members. This measuring pot is called ‘kuchi’; ‘kuchi bhoya’ is the name of the feast derived from it.

Then, she sets one boiled, peeled and fried egg on top of the flattened rice on the banana dish, and next to it a dried and fried fish. She sets one bronze bowl at each of the banana dish. She fills each of the bronze bowls with ‘thone’: home brewed drink.

Then, everything is ready for starting the ‘kuchi bhoya’; everybody has taken his/her seat. The volunteer starts with the patriarch the offerings of the ‘khen sagun’ means auspicious offerings of the egg and fish and ‘thone’ in a bronze bowl to each of us. She takes the egg and fish on her left hand and the bronze bowl with ‘thone’ on her left hand and then crosses her hands and offers these items first to the patriarch. He takes the bronze bowl with ‘thone’ in his right hand and the egg and fist in his left hand. He first sips the ‘thone’ and then takes the bite of the egg and fish. Then, the volunteer adds some ‘thone’ in the bowl. The patriarch sips it second time and takes the bite of the egg and fish. She pours a little bit of ‘thone’ to the bronze bowl the patriarch is holding third and the last time and the patriarch repeats sipping ‘thone’, and biting egg and fish to complete the process of offering ‘khen sagun’. Thus, ends the offering of ‘khen sagun’. The volunteer repeats this process of offering ‘khen sagun’ to all the family members sitting for ‘kuchi bhoya’. Then, she serves all sorts of meat and bean dishes to all. We eat and drink to our satisfaction.

Before ending the ‘kuchi bhoya’ feast, she serves one ‘si-u’ to each one of the family members. Meticulously cut goat-head into eight pieces such as two horns with eyes, two ears, two jaws, one tongue and one nose together is called ‘si-u’. Only the family members have the rights to eat the blessed pieces of the sacrificed goat head. The patriarch receives the right horn, the second in the family hierarchy receives the left horn, and then the third receives the right ear and so on. Other family members beyond the reach of ‘si-u’ receive a piece of meat. The spouse of the patriarch sitting at the end of the row receives the tail.

The last dish the volunteer serves is yogurt. We end every feast with the yogurt. She also serves ‘aila’ or ‘thone’ to anybody willing to have a last drink.

We don’t wash the dishes on this night believing that the leftovers of the ‘kuchi bhoya’ would turn into gold next morning. Certainly, it is wishful thinking.

After completing the ‘kuchi bhoya’ some of us go to the town abode of the eighth goddess of the nine goddesses called ‘Navadurga’; others go to the shrine to the local deity usually Lord Ganesh, and decked the lord out with flowers, and light incense to keep the air fragrant. The movement of one group of musicians going to the town shrine and another coming back from the town shrine to the eighth goddess adds to the entertainment of everybody in the festive mood.

The ninth night is the last night of the ‘nava-rat’, and we go to the field shrine to the last goddess of the nine goddesses called ‘Navadurga’ early in the morning before dawn, take a dip or simply wash our faces in the water of the nearby stream or pond, and then go to pray to the goddess in the shrine before dawn, and to her town abode in the evening.

The ninth day is the day of making offerings to the tools of our business. If we are traders then we clean our weighing machine, and other means of trade, if we are farmers then we clean the agricultural tools, if we are mechanics we clean machine and equipment at the workshop, if we are drivers we clean our vehicles. We decorate these machines, equipment and vehicles with amber paste and flowers. Then we make offerings to these machines, equipment and vehicles praying to them for running efficiently for a year. Some people even make the animal or bird sacrifice to these implements.

Our family tradition is that we make the sacrifice of a male chicken or rooster to our family deity called Balkumari at the attic once a year, and of a male duck to Goddess Durga Bhavani in our dark prayer room once a year. In other days of year, we make offerings of water, flower, vermillion and rice to the Goddess Balkumari in the morning. We make offerings to Goddess Durga Bhavani only during the Dashain festival.

The patriarch makes offerings to Goddess Durga Bhavani on the morning of the ninth day. All family members assemble at the main prayer room where one of our mothers has sowed barley seeds invoking Durga Bhavani on the first day of the Dashain festival. Our prayer room is off-limits to the people other than the family members. So, we usually have such a room at the interior part of our home.

A small-mustard-seed oil lamp is lighting the whole prayer room. All of us are standing around the patriarch watching him making offerings to the goddess. First, he sets the portrait of Durga Bhavani painted on a paper at the clay pot containing the barley plants. Then, he applies an amber paste on the forehead of the paper goddess, offers flowers, and then other regular items of offerings. Then, he gives all of us rice grains and asks us to clasp hands with rice grains at our chests; he also does the same and then asks us to make the offerings of the rice to the goddess. Then, he makes offerings to the male duck and asks for its approval to sacrifice it to the goddess. After its approval, he makes the sacrifice of the duck to the goddess and sets the head at the paper goddess, and lights some wicks soaked in oil and then sets the burning wicks on the head of the duck. The body of the sacrificed duck goes for cleaning whereas the head remains at the goddess for an overnight. The patriarch also lights the wicks set on a stone bowl containing mustard seed oil and puts a clay bowl on the wick-lamp on an upturn position to collect the soot from it until the next morning. We consider such soot as the blessing from the goddess, and apply it on our forehead. We leave everything as it is for the next morning.

Then, one of the uncles performs worship to Goddess Balkumari at the attic, and makes the sacrifice of the rooster to the goddess following our traditional rituals of animal and bird sacrifice to a deity. The head of the rooster remains at the goddess for an overnight.

Then, it is time for all of us to have the morning feast. We all sit in a row following the family hierarchy and a volunteer serves various dishes to us. The patriarch makes offerings of all dishes to all twelve deities as he did in the previous night. We don’t make offerings of dishes to the ancestors this time. We feast on the dishes served on banana leaves and drink from the bronze cups.

On the morning of the ninth day, the state makes offerings of fifty-four buffaloes to Goddess Taleju Bhavani. At the auspicious time ascertained by astrologers, the army men chop one head of a buffalo after another off following the salute of gun shots on the palace squares of the three city states such as Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu. The army prepares a ground smearing it with red clay, and then sets a wooden pole with a hole in the middle of it on the ground. Standing behind the pole, one of the army holds the rope binding the neck of a buffalo and passing it through the hole in the middle of the wooden pole. Then another army man chops the head of a buffalo off. They do it for all fifty-four buffaloes. I don’t know who has set this tradition of sacrificing fifty-four buffaloes and how s/he has arrived this number.

Goddess Taleju Bhavani has been the tutelary goddess of the Malla kings then of the Shahs. One of the Malla kings had brought Goddess Taleju Bhavani with him to Nepal. Then, every Malla king had set Goddess Taleju Bhavani in his private temple within the palace complex. Goddess Taleju Bhavani has been off-limits to the common people except for the period of the Dashain festival. You find the majestic temple to Goddess Taleju Bhavani in Kathmandu opened to the public only on the ninth day of the Dashain festival. Equally majestic temple to Goddess Taleju Bhavani is in Bhaktapur not so well visible as in Kathmandu.

We children become busy with making preparation for kite flying. We mix powdered glass with rice fluid, and then apply it on the thread and dry it in sun. This we do for making our thread stronger and sharper to cut the kites of others. We do it while flying a kite immediately after the afternoon wind starts or winding the thread around two pillars. Then, the afternoon sky becomes full of kites. We enjoy shouting at cutting other kites.

Adults go to enjoy the enchanting run of a buffalo from the town shrine to ‘Navadurga’ to the field shrine to the first goddess called Brahmayani of the nine goddesses together called ‘Navadurga’. Caretakers of the town abode raises a buffalo starting on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight in Srawon (July-August) for sacrificing it on the night between the ninth and tenth day of the Dashain festival. The fourteenth day of the dark fortnight in Srawon (July-August) is called ‘gatha muga care’.

On the afternoon of the ninth day of the Dashain festival, caretakers feed the buffalo with ‘thone’ and ‘aila’ to make it lively. Then, they free the buffalo. Adults and teenagers have been waiting for steering the buffalo to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. They make different moves and sounds to guide the buffalo to the right path to the shrine. Revelers follow them. Before reaching the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani, revelers splash the buffalo with the water of the stream flowing nearby. At the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani, the buffalo remains to be sacrificed at night following the tantric rituals.

The eighth day of the dark fortnight Ashad (June-July) called ‘bhal-bhal astami’ is the last day for the ‘Navadurga’ troupe in Bhaktapur. They cremate all the worn-out masks on this day following the tantric rites. They release two live fishes they have kept as the live souls of ‘Navadurga’ since the last fourteenth day of the dark fortnight in Srawon (July-August): ‘gatha muga care’. On the coming fourteenth day of the dark fortnight in Srawon (July-August): ‘gatha muga care’, they start keeping two live fishes as the souls of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe and starts raising a buffalo for sacrificing it on the night between the ninth and tenth days of the Dashain festival.

On the evening of the ninth day of the Dashain festival, builders of the ‘Navadurga’ masks display the masks of nine goddess and other gods at one public building called ‘phalca’ at the neighborhood called ‘yaache’. They have painstakingly crafted the masks that have to last for nine months of a year.

These ‘Navadurga’ masks remain on display for the whole evening of the ninth day. Revelers visit the area to witness the masks. These masks have yet to be consecrated and invoke the divine souls to make them full-fledged deities. However, people visiting this area have already the feeling of these masks in fact are the deities. Some people visit the area playing traditional musical instruments such as flutes, drums and cymbals.

Following the traditional belief, these masks still belong to the builders although they have crafted for the ‘Navadurga’ troupe. Members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe cannot get them from the builders; so, they have to steal the masks from this area. So, they pretend to steal the masks at midnight and take the masks to the field shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. Thus, the ‘Navadurga’ troupe gets brand new masks in Dashain.

On the midnight between the ninth and tenth days of the Dashain festival, tantric priests called ‘acaju’ perform a tantric ritual to the masks of invoking the divinities in the masks. This ritual is called opening of the eyes of the masks. Once, the eyes of the masks are opened they have the spirits of the deities.

Then, the tantric priests turn over one mask after another to each of the concerned members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe. Before turning over the masks to the members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe, the priests perform the rituals of consecrating the uniforms and ornaments to be worn by each of the members of the troupe, and then transfer the uniforms and ornaments to the members of the troupe. Then, they become the divine ‘Navadurga’ troupe members.

Each member of the “Navadurga’ troupe has a copper pot set just below the mask of the goddess is suspended in the dark room of the shrine to ‘Navadurga’ at the neighborhood called ‘gachhe’. Each member stores his divine uniforms and ornaments in the pot while not in use.

The ‘Navadurga’ troupe has a music team of three men. The ‘Navadurga’ troupe performs dances to the tune of the music team. Tantric priests also invoke divine spirits in the musical instruments such as drum and cymbals and turn these divine-spirited musical instruments to the concerned members of the music team of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe.

Then, the members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe dance to the tune of the drum and cymbals. They become the divine dancers and all of them become eligible to receive the offerings made to them in the names of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe.

After giving life to each of the masks of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe, and to the drum and cymbals, the tantric priests perform the rituals of making sacrifice of the buffalo to the members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe.

The buffalo has been waiting for its turn to be sacrificed for quite some time. On the instructions of the tantric priests, concerned responsible people bind the horns of the buffalo to a bamboo. Holding both ends of the bamboo, some people forcibly turn the head of the buffalo back to its neck.

Following the instructions of the tantric priests, a butcher performs the sacrifice of the buffalo to the ‘Navadurga’ troupe. The butcher finds a small blood vein and cuts it to jet the blood. The butcher directs the jet of the blood to the mouth of one member after another of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe. The troupe members come one after another following the name call by one of the tantric priests. The priest follows the hierarchy of the divine troupe in calling the members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe to come to accept the blood of the buffalo. If the pressure of the blood goes down and the jet does not reach the mouth of the standing member of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe; then one of the butchers closes the noses and the mouth of the buffalo.

After completing the offerings of the blood of the buffalo, the priest instructs the butchers to separate the head of the buffalo from the body and bring it to the northern side of the shrine and place it on the ground facing to the shrine. None even the butcher cannot watch the cutting-off of the head of the buffalo. Then, the priest lights the wicks soaked in oil and places them on the head of the buffalo.

The ‘Navadurga’ troupe drinks from the cup of a human skull. Some people say the skull is so fresh you even notice the lines of veins in it on the tenth day of the Dashain festival. The popular belief is that every year tantric priests find out a person with thirty-two good signs using their transcendental vision and then tantrically take out the skull from the person of having thirty-two good sings on the night of the tenth day. The ‘Navadurga’ troupe uses it as a cup for drinking tantrically energized drinks for a year.

Tantric priests hold tantric rituals to Goddess Taleju Bhavani in presence of Living Goddess Kumari at the shrines to Goddess Taleju Bhavani on the premises of the old palace of the ancient city-states particularly Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu on the night between the ninth and the tenth day of the Dashain festival. All these three city-states have their own Living Goddess Kumari. Then, the Living Goddess Kumari of Bhaktapur sits on the Square at the neighborhood called ‘thane’ just behind the temple to Lord Narayan in Bhaktapur in the morning to bless the devotees returning from the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani.

On the morning of the tenth day, we all dressed in new and finest clothes go to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. On the way, we meet one man or another heading to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani measuring by his body length. He prostrates and then clasps his hands over his head. His helper places some rice grains at the end of the clasped hands and then he gets up and walks to the point where the rice grains are and then prostrates again. We meet another man with clasped hands over his head and rolling on the way to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. In doing so, they believe that they will please the Goddess Brahmayani and earn merits, too.

A number of musical bands playing different musical instruments and tunes have been going to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. They move as we do. Some children have been dragging a small wooden chariot with flowers. The way is fully crowded with the people going to and coming back from the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani. We cannot stop but to move with the flow of the human traffic on the way to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani and back.

Just before reaching the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani, we need to cross a small stream. Some of us take a dip in the clear water, others simply washes their faces.

Then, we move on to the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani, and attempt on viewing the fresh masks of the members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe on display in the shrine, we see the fresh masks of all goddesses and some gods arrayed in the hierarchy of the deities in the shrine. Some people throw rice grains and coins to the masks. Others receive blessed flowers and a piece of twine made of three different threads of white, red and black to wear around their necks. And then we go around the shrine keeping the deity on our right. The head of the buffalo is facing to the shrine. Various grains offered to the fire god at the night are still smoldering next to the head of the buffalo tantrically sacrificed to the goddesses.

While going around the shrine we notice some men are lying flat on their backs and then covered their bodies with blankets and on them a layer of cow dung. A number of backed clay bowls are set in the cow dung. Each clay bowl has oil and burning wicks. A lady is helping to add oil to the bowls. Some other men are sitting on chairs and having clay bowls set on the cow dung placed on shoulders, hands and on knees. They do so for a certain time. In dong so, they believe that they earn merits.

We also notice that some members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe are distributing pieces of the three-colored twine to everybody wishing to have it. They are in the white inner garments of the uniform. The white inner garments are full of the stains of the blood of the buffalo sacrificed on the night between the ninth and the tenth day.

Coming back home from the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani, it is time again for all of us to assemble at the prayer room. The patriarch performs worship to Goddess Durga Bhavani. We are patiently waiting for him to complete the offerings made to the goddess. Then, he applies amber paste on our forehead and draws a line of the soot that has been collected in an upturn clay bowl above the amber paste, and distributes the barley pants as the blessing from the goddess to all of us. Some of us receive the implements we use for daily tasks. Then, the patriarch cuts the leaves of the ginger plant and sugar, and one leg of the sacrificed duck and a bowl of containing barley plants, and puts them together on a wicker basket. One of us takes all these items to Lord Kumar residing at our door for receiving first offerings. Then, he takes out of the clay pot one bowl after another with fresh barley plants. One of us takes one bowl to Goddess Balkumari at the attic, and another takes one to the neighborhood Ganesh.

Then, all of us sit in a circle in the room lighted by a single oil lamp burning on a clay bowl to feast on ‘Samaya’. Somebody passes on a bunch of leaf plates. Each one of us takes one of it and then passes on to the next. Then, somebody passes on the flattened rice in a wicker basket, then a bowl of roasted meat, another bowl of roasted soybeans and a plate full of pieces of raw ginger. Everybody takes as much as of these items s/he wants to eat. Then, somebody passes on baked clay bowls. Everybody takes one and set it at the leaf plate. Then, somebody passes on a pot with ‘aila’. Everybody pours it on her/his clay bowl as much as s/he likes. Then, the patriarch says you may start eating. Everybody picks up a few pieces of every dish and then throws them at the goddess as an offering to the goddess. This is a breakfast we eat on the morning of the tenth day.

One of our mothers decked all the girls of ages from two to nine years of ages out with red paste on their foreheads and half of their feet. Then, she places them on little higher seats and makes offerings of regular items to them. For this particular day, our very young sisters become Living Goddesses. We call this offering a Kumari Puja.

Then, some women members go to the kitchen to cook rice and meat dishes for lunch. Everybody has been tired of feasting on the same festival dishes for the last three days and nights; so, each one of us is nostalgic to have cooked rice, lintels and some vegetables.

Some other members of the household bring out the buffalo meat stored since the seventh day of the Dashain festival, and of the goat from the eighth day to the attic and slice the meat into thin and long pieces for sun drying. The whole house smells the rotten meat. We dry the meat for a few days and then store it for future use. The dried meat gives a special taste. It goes well with hard drinks.

In fact, the whole town smells rotten meat and ‘thone’ and ‘aila’. Every shrine is full of animal or bird blood stains, and has been emitting the smell of ‘thone’ and ‘aila’ from the liquors spill on the idols of deities during the offerings made to them on the ninth day. If you are not used to it then the scene of the whole town will be dreadful to you.

They also cook the head, two wings and the tail of the sacrificed duck but these items are not for us. The patriarch or somebody else sits at the main room and prepares several portions of ‘samaya’ on baked clay bowls. Then, s/he puts the head of the duck on top of the one bowl, one wing on another bowl, another wing on another bowl and then the tail on a last bowl, and then goddess-blessed flowers means barley plants on each of the bowls.

One of the men or women members of the household goes with all these bowls first to the patriarch of the extended family, presents him the bowl with the head of the duck with due traditional respect, then goes to the second man in the hierarchy of the extended family and presents him the bowl with the right wing of the duck, and so on.

If we have several households together forming an extended family, then the patriarch may have several bowls of ‘samaya’ with the heads of sacrificed ducks, and then other members of the extended family with the bowls of ‘samaya’ with other parts of the sacrificed ducks.

We keep the half of the duck meat and dry it on sun. Then we roast it, spice it and make offerings of it with flattened rice and other items to Goddess of Wealth called Laxmi after a fortnight. Following our tradition Goddess Durga Bhavani shares the offerings of a male duck she receives from us with Goddess of Wealth: Laxmi.

On the afternoon of the tenth day, nine Living Goddesses, each one carried on the arms of the attendant pass through our neighborhood to visit the Goddess Taleju Bhavani at the ancient palace in Bhaktapur. We children watch this divine visit with curiosity.

On the tenth day, married sisters, daughters with their children and spouses go to receive blessings from the patriarch. So, we find a lot of human traffic going from one house to another and receiving the blessings from the seniors. The patriarch first puts the mixture of vermillion, rice and yogurt on the forehead of each of the persons receiving blessings, and then offers the goddess-blessed barley plants to each of them. So, men, women, and children go with the forehead full of reddened rice starting on the tenth day. They cannot reach all of the seniors to receive the blessings from them on the tenth day. So, they continue going to the remaining seniors next day and so on through the eve of the full moon day.

On the afternoon of the tenth day, members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe at the shrine to Goddess Brahmayani have been preparing for visiting tutelary Goddess Taleju Bhavani at the palace temple. Members of the ‘Navadurga’ troupe move as early as possible after completing the tantric rituals from the shrine. On the way, local people are waiting for making offerings to the ‘Navadurga’ troupe. At every neighborhood, people are waiting for making offerings to the Navadurga’ troupe. The ‘Navadurga’ troupe moves from one place to another dancing to the tune of the drum and cymbals on the way. So, by the time, the ‘Navadurga’ troupe reaches the old palace for paying respect to the tutelary goddess, it becomes already midnight. Thereafter, every evening, the ‘Navadurga’ troupe visits Goddess Taleju Bhavani until the full moon day.

On the night of the tenth day, a festival of Goddess Taleju Bhavani is held at the palace area and around. The attendants to the goddess take Goddess Taleju Bhavani on a white horse and the ‘Navadurga’ troupe follows the goddess. This festival is called ‘payeo’ jatra in Bhaktapur. In Kathmandu, similar jatra is called ‘khadga’ jatra. A group of people in different uniform of goddesses holding a sword in their hands moves from Makhan to the field shrine to Goddess Bhadrakali (Lumari Ajima) and back.

The tenth day is the most auspicious day for young couples to elope. Young people start courting each other during the rice-seedling transplantation season about 100 days before the Dashain festival. They work together in the field and make jokes and get each other to know well during the rice-seedling transplantation. Then, they develop relationship going together to various shrines to different deities without the knowledge of their parents during the one-month long festival called ‘gunla’. If their friendship works they continue strengthening their friendship going together to watch various folk dances and drama during the eight-day festival called ‘gai-jatra’. Then, they continue strengthening their relationship and develop it into love during the one-month long period called ‘ye-la’. Finally, they wait for the most auspicious day: the tenth day of the Dashain festival. On this day, they make sure that they get married.

Practically, for most of us, the Dashain ends on the tenth day but we continue to make offerings of holy water in the morning and of wick lights in the evening to Goddess Durga Bhavani at our prayer rooms through the eve of the full moon day. On the morning of the full moon day we dispose of the sand and other leftovers of the offerings made to Goddess Durga Bhavani at the nearest riverbed. Thus, ends the Dashain festival.

However, hangover of the Dashain festival continues for some time. We need to invite married sisters and daughters with their children and spouses to feast on the dishes of the Dashain festival. Every household holds a festive dinner for the married sisters and daughters and their family members.

We celebrate the Dashain festival honoring the victory of Goddess Durga Bhavani or Goddess Taleju Bhavani over the demon called Mahishasur. Both Durga Bhavani and Taleju Bhavani are the same and one goddess in two different names. The goddess is Durga Bhavani for common folks and Taleju Bhavani for the rulers.

A legend has it that a king by the name of Mahishasur wanted to be immortal. So, he meditated on Lord Shiva for several years and ultimately pleased the lord. The lord then wanted to bless his devotee called Mahishasur meeting whatever he has in his mind.

Lord Shiva said, “Get up my devotee; I am pleased very much with you and I am here to meet whatever you have in your mind.”

Mahishasur said, “O my Lord! Make me eternal so that I would never be needed to die.”

Lord Shiva said, “That is not possible. It goes against the law of nature.”

Mahishasur said, “ Then, make me, nobody other than a woman be able to kill me.”

Lord Shiva said, “Be it so.”

Then, Mahishasur fought against one king after another and won the entire kingdoms on earth then he went to win kingdoms in heaven. Nobody could stop him from wining the fights.

Then, all the deities assemble together at one place and consult with each other why this mundane king has been so powerful. They have found that Lord Shiva has blessed him with the boon of nobody but a woman could kill him. So, they went to Lord Shiva and said to him that the mundane king called Mahishasur has won everything in heaven, too.

Lord Shiva asked, “Is it so?”

All the deities in one voice said, “Yes.”

Then, Lord Shiva created an eighteen-limbed Durga Bhavani from his third eye. Every one of the deities gave her the weapon s/he has carried.

The most powerful Goddess Durga Bhavani fought against Mahishasur for several days and weeks. However, Mahishasur continued to stand against the most powerful goddess. Mahishasur even multiplied from every drop of blood he has shed thus making the job of killing the demon even more challenging to the goddess.

Goddess Durga Bhavani then spread her tongue on the ground they have been fighting on. She swallowed every drop of blood Mahishasur has shed before it could become another Mahishasur. And finally Mahishasur went to hiding in a body of a buffalo. Ultimately, Goddess Durga Bhavani chopped the head of the buffalo off finishing off the demon and then bringing peace on earth and in the heaven, too.

When we were young our parents did not permit us to wear shoes during the period of the Dashain festival believing our shoes would hurt the tongue of the goddess.

September 24, 2009.