Panauti Jatra

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Panauti Jatra is a combination of the palanquin and chariot festivals. The Jatra is celebrated in Panauti: a small town located at about thirty kilometers southeast of Kathmandu. During the festival Goddess Brahmayani and God Mahadev are taken out on different portable shrines carried on shoulder poles whereas God Bhairav and Goddess Bhadrakali are pulled on chariots. Panauti Jatra is unique in the sense that Lord Mahadev: one of the Hindu Trinity that does not accept blood, is honored and revered along with other gods and goddesses that accept blood of sacrificial animals.

The Jatra starts on the tenth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Jestha (May-June). On this day Hindu priests called Achhanju perform rituals to the gods and goddesses; thereafter the concerned temple caretakers bring them out from their temples and place them at an open place. Men, women and children with bronze or wicker basketful of offerings visit all these gods and goddesses and make offerings to them in the morning. From this day onwards until the fourth day of the festival, everybody becomes busy with the preparation for celebrating the festival.

On the fourth day of the festival, a festival of Duin-chha–nya-ye-ke-gu is held in the evening. It is one of the great attractions of the Panauti Jatra. A team of a priest, a woman and a porter crosses the bridge over Punyamati River to go to worship Goddess Brahmayani along with Goddess Bhadrakali. Duin is the only woman member on the team. Other team members: a priest and a porter are men. This part of the festival is named in honor of the woman team member.

Thousands of people including visitors from other towns patiently watch this festival related to the crossing of a river by a team of worshippers. Once it so happened that the Punyamati River was swollen with floodwater, but the team of the worshippers had to cross the river somehow to perform offerings to Goddesses Brahmayani and Bhadrakali. Without performing worship to the goddesses they could not run the festival. The flood alarmed them. They called on the serpent God called Basuki for help. To their great relief, Serpent God Basuki and his spouse came to their rescue. Both of them lay down over the Punyamati River to serve as a bridge for the team to cross the river. Each team member in turn moved forward inch by inch either not to hurt the serpents or to keep them from falling the slippery bodies of the serpents. It became a great spectacle to the onlookers. They watched the crossing of the river stepping on the slippery bodies of two serpents with great curiosity.

This way of river crossing is done even today as their predecessors had done once on the bodies of the serpents although now a day they walk on the bridge over the Punyamati River. The first to step on the bridge is the priest carrying offerings to the serpent god. He moves so carefully that everybody watches his motion in complete silence. It takes more than a half hour for him to cross the bridge of about 20 meters long. Similarly, a porter carrying a load of offerings to the goddesses also minces into the bridge. Finally, the Duin carrying an oil lamp and a load of rice grains carefully steps on the bridge. After her crossing the river, the festival of Duin-chha–nya-ye-ke-gu ends.

Thereafter, everything is done in preparation for holding Tantric worship to the goddesses at the temple to Goddess Brahmayani. First, some people take Goddess Bhadrakali out of the temple and place Her on a chariot parked nearby the temple. Devotees pull it out through narrow lanes of Panauti to the bridge over the Punyamati River. From there, two persons carry Goddess Bhadrakali on their arms to the temple to Goddess Brahmayani and place Her next to Goddess Brahmayani. Thereafter, the team of a priest, a woman and a porter enters the temple and seals off the entrance to the temple to conduct Tantric worship until the next morning.

The fifth day of the festival is called Mu-jatra means the main festival. On this day, most of the residents of the Panauti town sacrifice male goats or ducks to Goddesses Brahmayani and Bhadrakali. Others simply make offering of a plateful of food items. On this day, people revere other gods and goddesses as well. Although this day is known as Mu-jatra no activities other than pulling a chariot from the bank of Punyamati River to the bank of Roshamati River near Gainepati are held. Here, the chariot pulling and palanquin carrying festival is held the next day.

The sixth day is the full moon day; this day is also known as Panauti Punhi. This day is the most auspicious day for taking a dip in the water of the confluence of the Punyamati River and Roshamati River. So, this day is also known as Panauti-snan. Devotees take a holy dip in the water of the confluence of two rivers on this day believing in the cure of any disease they have.

The Jatra in other word festival begins early in the morning. First, Goddess Brahmayani is taken out of the temple and placed on a portable shrine and then carried it on shoulder poles along the bank of Roshamati River then through Sorakhutay to main Bazaar before bringing it to the main square. God Indreswore Mahadev is then carried on another portable shrine from the temple to the royal square following the same route as that of Goddess Brahmayani had traveled.

It is fun to watch how God Indreswore Mahadev is taken on the portable shrine. The portable-shrine carriers try to drop the God Indreswore Mahadev’s caretaker off the shrine shacking the portable shrine as violently as they could. The caretaker would need to pay the sum of money that would buy one tola (11.664 gm) gold to the shrine carriers if he falls from the shrine. However, the carriers rarely succeed in making the caretaker fall from the shrine. The caretaker playing a hand drum with one hand and holding the shrine firmly with the other manages to stick to the shrine, no matter how wildly the carriers shake it while taking it to the royal square.

Devotees carry Goddess Bhadrakali from the temple to Goddess Brahmayani where she spent the whole night with Goddess Brahmayani to the Gainepati where her chariot is waiting for Her. The chariot is then pulled out through the same route Goddess Brahmayani was carried through on her portable shrine. But it makes a loop at one lane symbolizing her attempt to escape from the chase of God Unmant Bhairav. However, God Unmant Bhairav does not let Goddess Bhadrakali escape from Him, and catches Her at the eastern end of the royal square at the open space popularly known as police pati. At this place, God Bhairav chariot collides with that of Goddess Bhadrakali from the rear before it is pulled back. Then, Goddess Bhadrakali’s chariot collides with that of God Unmant Bhairav symbolizing the copulation of God Unmant Bhairav and Goddess Bhadrakali.  This action is repeated three times. Each time, the chariot collides devotees throw vermillion at each other expressing their joy at the happy union of the divine couple.

The palanquin carrying God Indreswore Mahadev and the chariot carrying Goddess Bhadrakali also head-on collides with each other. The palanquin is carried back and forth a number of times before it finally collide with the chariot carrying Goddess Bhadrakali. Then, the caretaker distributes ‘Prasad’ means a blessed food or simply a blessed piece of flower or a blessed paste of vermillion or all these blessed items together to devotees. After that the palanquin makes the last collision with the chariot before it is finally pulled away. This symbolizes the copulation of God Indreswore Mahadev and Goddess Bhadrakali. When such collision takes place the chariot of God Unmant Bhairav remains in contact with that of Goddess Bhadrakali. Goddess Brahmayani presides over all these activities. God Unmant Bhairav is believed to be the incarnation of God Indreswore Mahadev.

After the symbolic meeting of God Unmant Bhairav, Goddess Bhadrakali and God Indreswore Mahadev at the royal square, God Indreswore Mahadev is carried on arms from the palanquin to the temple. Both the chariots of God Unmant Bhairav and Goddess Bhadrakali are pulled to the eastern end of the town from where the chariot of God Unmant Bhairav is pulled to the south to the temple. The remaining chariot of the Goddess Bhadrakali is pulled back to her abode at the city entrance. All these activities complete by mid-day.

At night, devotees carry the portable shrine of the presiding Goddess Brahmayani on shoulder poles from the royal square to her abode near Sorakhutay pati. Every household sends a person to carry a torch to light her way to the temple. A number of traditional musical bands and a procession of devotees follow Goddess Brahmayani to her abode.

Panauti Jatra comes to an end on the full moon day. This is the last day of the festival. The deities brought out of their shrine on the first day of the festival are carried back to their respective shrine. On this day, men, women and children worship all the Goddesses and Gods before they are taken in.