Panauti Jatra

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Panauti Jatra is a combination of the palanquin and chariot festivals. It is the nine-day festival starting off on the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Jyestha (May-June) and ending on the third day of the dark fortnight in Ashad (June-July).

Panauti is a small town located at about thirty kilometers southeast of Kathmandu. Probably, Panauti is the holiest town in Nepal, as two holy rivers called Roshi and Punyamati have been flowing on both sides of this town. A legend has it that Goddess Parvati forming the third river called Padmabati has once flowed under the temple to Brahmayani and met with other two mundane rivers making the confluence of three rives means the holiest place for atoning the sin of heavenly king called Indra.

During the festival Goddess Brahmayani and God Mahadev are taken out on different portable shrines carried on shoulder poles whereas God Bhairava 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 Tantric gods and goddesses that accept blood of sacrificial animals.

The Jatra starts off on the tenth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Jyestha (May-June). On this day Hindu priests called Achhanju perform rituals to the Tantric gods and goddesses; thereafter the concerned temple caretakers bring them out from their temples and place them at an open public places. 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 on until the fourth day of the festival, everybody becomes busy with the preparation for celebrating the festival.

On the fourth day of the festival in other words fourteenth day of the bright fortnight, a festival of Duin-ca–nya-ya-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 make Tanric offerings to 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 called ‘duin’.

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 has so happened that the Punyamati River has swollen with floodwater, but the team of the worshippers needs to cross the river somehow to perform offerings to Goddesses Brahmayani and Bhadrakali. Without performing worship to the goddesses, they were not supposed to run the festival. The flood has alarmed them. So, 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 over the river. Each team member in turn moved forward inch by inch either not to hurt the serpents or to keep himself or herself from falling the slippery bodies of the serpents. Currently, the team of worshippers emulates the crossing of the rivers by their forefathers on the bodies of serpents every year. It has been a great spectacle to the onlookers. They watch the crossing of the river by the team stepping on believed to be the slippery bodies of two serpents with great curiosity.

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 moves on the bridge inch by inch. Finally, the woman called ‘Duin’ carrying an oil lamp and a load of rice grains carefully steps on the bridge and moves on inch by inch. After her crossing the river, the festival of Duin-chha–nya-ye-ke-gu comes to an end. Thereafter, everything is done in preparation for holding Tantric worship to the goddesses at the temple to Goddess Brahmayani across the river.

In the town, some people have already taken Goddess Bhadrakali out of the temple and placed Her on a chariot parked nearby the temple to take Her to the temple to Brahmayani. Devotees pull it 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 hold Tantric offerings to the goddesses 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 make the sacrifice of 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 are 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 means bathing in Panauti. Devotees take a holy dip in the water of the confluence of two rivers on this day believing it will cure any disease they might have.

The major Jatra to be held on the full moon day starts off 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 has 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 has spent the whole night with Goddess Brahmayani to the Gainepati where her chariot has been waiting for Her and place Her in it. The chariot is then pulled in through the same route Goddess Brahmayani has been carried through on her portable shrine. However, it makes a loop at one lane symbolizing her attempt to escape from the chase of God Unmant Bhairav that has been following Her. However, God Unmant Bhairava 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 Bhairava’s chariot collides with that of Goddess Bhadrakali from the rear and then it is pulled out. Then, Goddess Bhadrakali’s chariot collides with that of God Unmant Bhairava symbolizing the divine sexual intercourse of God Unmant Bhairava with Goddess Bhadrakali. This action is repeated three times. Each time, the chariots collide; 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 collides head-on 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 off. This symbolizes the divine sexual intercourse of God Indreswore Mahadev with Goddess Bhadrakali. When such head-on collision of the palanquin and the chariot takes place the chariot of God Unmant Bhairava remains in contact with that of Goddess Bhadrakali. God Unmant Bhairava is believed to be the incarnation of God Indreswore Mahadev. Goddess Brahmayani presides over all these festivities.

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 Bhairava and Goddess Bhadrakali are pulled to the eastern end of the town; from there the chariot of God Unmant Bhairava is pulled to the south to the temple. The 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.

On the eight day of the festival in other words on the second day of the dark fortnight of Ashad, devotees hold the last goodbye offerings called ‘Dyo sagan bi-ye-gu’ to all deities. They go to make offerings to gods and goddesses brought out from the respective temple and placed at different public places for the festival.

On the ninth day of the festival, all the deities brought out of their shrines on the first day of the festival are carried back to their respective shrine. On this day, too, some men, women and children make offerings to all the goddesses and gods before they are taken into their respective temple. Thus ends the nine-day festival in Panauti.

May 26, 2009

Note: This year, Panauti jatra is on Sunday, June 7, 2009.