Saya (Gai-jatra): Festival of Make-believe Cows

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Nepalis have a rich cultural heritage. The abundant harvest and the bumper food stock allowed Nevahs: the aboriginals of the Kathmandu Valley to devote much time to socio-cultural development in course of the historical development of the country, and create a rich cultural endowment in Nepal. One such a cultural endowment is ‘Saya’ also known as ‘gai-jatra’, which literally means the festival of cows. It is a religious-cum-entertainment street carnival celebrated in the Kathmandu Valley and in other major towns in Nepal. The ‘Saya’ festival starts up with the spire called ‘Taha-maca’ representing a cow dedicated to Goddess Taleju taking out around the town before the cock-crow and ends the festival after another spire representing a cow dedicated to Lord Bhairava taking out around the town in the evening of the first day of the dark fortnight of Bhadra. However, this festival continues with other entertainment for another seven days and ends on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of Bhadra (August-September).

Gai-jatra is one of the originally unique traditions that have evolved into the current day celebration as people went on adding one item after another to this festival. It combines religion, entertainment and satire together. In the end, it has become a messy festival. From this has come a saying ‘Gai-jatra jula (bha-yo)’ means something is messed up.

The tradition of gai-jatra has probably started about 2,000 years ago entirely from the point of view of liberating souls of the departed persons from rebirths, as Hindus believe in rebirths in different forms of life on earth. Nepalis believe that human souls after death travel from one living body to another making journey through 8,400,000 living beings enduring various kinds of sufferings in each life of animal, bird and marine life before taking the birth of humans again on earth if they miss to enter the world of dead called ‘yama-loka’ on the day of gai-jatra, as the gate to the ‘yama-loka’ opens only on this day.

Nepalis believe that cows help the souls of dead people to cross the spiritual river called ‘baitarni’ that tests the vices and virtues of dead persons and then to lead to the entrance to the ‘yama loka’ on the day of gai-jatra and then helping them in entering the ‘yama loka’ thus freeing them from numerous rebirths. So, this festival is dedicated to cows. So, Hindus also believe that souls of people dying on this day go straight to the ‘yama loka’.

The ruler of ‘yama loka’ called ‘Yama Raj’: the lord of the dead and a record keeper of all the living beings and the dead decides on this day depending upon their vices and virtues, who would enter the ‘yama loka’ or return to earth and follow the life-cycles of 8,400,000 living beings on earth. So, family members and relatives in this world do everything possible for the souls of their loved ones to enter the ‘yama loka’ on the day of ‘gai-jatra’.

Nepalis celebrate the gai-jatra festival as a street carnival after the completion of the rice-seedling transplantation season in the Kathmandu Valley. So, it is merry-making much to the amusement of the farmers. Young people dressed up as women, impersonate young ladies and dance with men on the streets. They are free to express any amorous acts on this day. Traditionally, amateur comedians used to dress up so as to attract attention of people and then go around a town telling jokes for making people laugh.

Currently, the local press publishes special gai-jatra issues of newspapers and journals. The Nepal Academy awards the best publications. It also holds a gai-jatra show of comedians and satirists, and decorates the best performers with medals on this occasion.

Celebration of the gai-jatra festival differs from town to town. However, the main theme of religion, entertainment and satire remains the same. On this day, real cows and make-believe cows in the names of dead people are paraded on the streets of major towns in Nepal.

People in the Bhaktapur town parade different types of objects representing cows in the names of dead persons, that can be easily identified by their sizes and garments to which sex and to adults or children they are dedicated to. For example, people use an upturned bamboo basket called ‘doko’ for putting different things together to it to make an object representing a cow for a dead child. They make horns out of dry rice straw, buy two paper fans and a paper portrait of cow and attach them together to the body of a ‘doko’ and make an object that represents a cow. Then, they dress it up in a male or female garments depending upon the sex of a dead child. Once, it is done then the family members make offerings to it at the main entrance to their house. Then, a man wears it and goes around the town following the ancient town boundary route.

For adults, they put together four fresh bamboos each about 20 ft long to make a spire that represents a cow. They wrap it in simple white linens and clothe it with a male or female dress following the sex of a dead person to whom it is dedicated. They set two straw horns, a paper portrait of cow, and paper fans on a spire to complete the making of a spire that represents a cow.

They fasten two shoulder poles to the bamboos about three feet above the bottom of a spire for four men to carry it on their shoulders. They also bind long white linen to the neck of a spire so that two men one at the front and another at the rear hold at each end of the linen to balance the spire while four men carrying it on the streets. Recently, people have started hanging a photo of the deceased person on a spire.

They make such a spire on the street at the entrance to the house of the deceased person. When it is still in a horizontal position, family members make offerings to it. Then, they pulled it to a vertical position, and four men carry it through the circular route that makes the border of the ancient town. Mourning sons in complete white dress with smoldering incenses in their hands and other family members follow it. Some people arrange a ‘ghintan ghising’ dance troupe to lead it.

Ghintan ghising is a stick dance. Several couples: men dressed in women’s clothes or pairs of men only each holding something in their hands usually stick, each striking the stick of other dance rhythmically to the tune of a drum and cymbals. Youngsters greatly enjoy such dancing. With such a dance troupe, the spire goes around the Bhaktapur town, moving in a clockwise direction following a circular route set by ancient rulers for this purpose.

After the completion of taking the spire around the town, the four carriers of the spire bring it back to the main entrance to the house of the deceased person, and put it again in a horizontal position, and strip it of the clothes and decoration. Paper horns, paper portrait and paper ears are thrown in the nearby river. Clothes and bamboos are saved for other purposes.

Instead of taking such spires and ‘doko’ cows, some people parade live cows covering the body of a cow with a piece of yellow linen printed with the names of Rama or Krishna. Other people decorate children and parade them on the streets representing cows while some rich people make a small cow out of a black clay, place it on a portable shrine, and have it carried by four men on shoulder poles around the town. They also hire a band of musicians to lead such a clay cow around the town. Such symbolic cows and real cows are on the street from the early morning through the evening of the day of ‘Saya’ festival until the spire dedicated to Lord Bhairava is taken around the town.

A spire dedicated to Lord Bhairava is similar to other spires dedicated to humans but it is made out of only dry rice straw. Members of association called ‘guthi’ set up to run this annual spire dedicated to Lord Bhairava make a spire, and perform rites to it similar to other spires, and take it out around the town following the same route as other go around. Following the tradition, a number of other spires dedicated to the deceased people in some areas of the ‘kone’ means southern part of the town wait for the spire to Bhairava and follow it around the town. In the large squares such as ‘Taumadhi’ and ‘Dattatraya’, it makes a number of circles making it a spectacular scene for visitors to watch. A large number of volunteer ‘ghintan ghising’ dancers lead this Bhairava spire on the day of ‘gai-jatra’. Lord Bhairava presides over the dead.

The festival has started up after the attendants at the temple to Goddess Taleju taking out the spire dedicated to Goddess Taleju around the Bhaktapur town before dawn. Goddess Taleju is the Supreme Goddess; so, the spire in her name needs to lead the spires in the names of dead mundane people. So, the attendants take the spire around the town before dawn as even crows will not have chance to fly over it, as Nepalis believe that flying of crows over any auspicious things will make it inauspicious. So, many people do not notice the spire in the name of Goddess Taleju going around the town so early in the morning.

On this day, people standing on the streets serve malpua (fried dark brown bread), swari (fried thin white bread) and fruits in leaf-plates to the masquerading people representing cows in the names of their loved ones deceased in the year.

In Kathmandu, people decorate youngsters ranging in the age of from five to fifteen years with portraits of cows fastened to their foreheads, painted moustaches on their upper lips and dressed them up in saffron silk clothes and parade them on the streets of the town. They go round the town following the ancient route through the old palace square.  Some people parade live cows covered with yellow linen printed with the names of demigods such as Rama and Krishna. Mourning sons in white clothes with smoldering incense in their hands follow them. Teenagers dressed up in a silly manner also parade on the streets masquerading as gai-jatra maniacs. They go around the town and pass through the ancient royal palace square. Such activities last until the afternoon.

In Patan unlike in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, all such make-believe cows and live cows assemble at the ancient palace square near the famous Krishna temple. From there after religious rites, they move on along a set route in a clockwise direction. Some people drag a small copper drum on the way. As in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, people on the way serve food in leaf-plates to all people masquerading as cows. They finish the procession after going around the town and reaching the palace square where they have gathered to begin the procession. The procession normally starts off at 10: A.M. in the morning and completes it before 4:00 P.M afternoon.

However, this festival continues for another seven days. During these days, local people entertain themselves with varieties of programs. They have comedians and satirists going around and telling jokes to make people laugh, have mask dancers putting up mask-dance shows at different places, and dramatists showing dramas during those seven days.

The Malla kings in their crusade to develop culture, have added entertainment and satire to gai-jatra, and have made it mandatory to pass through the palace square to enable the royal family members to watch them. So, some people think that the tradition of gai-jatra was set for amusement of the then royal families in the past.

A popular story is that one of the Malla kings lost his only son; the queen was so upset that the king could not console her by any means. Finally, the king thought of holding a show in which all the household in the town needed to take out an object representing a cow in the name of their loved ones died in that year. When the queen saw that so many people in the kingdom had lost one or more loved ones then she came to her sense that not only she has lost her loved one but also so many people have lost their loved ones. Thus, she got consoled; and the tradition of this festival was set. Later on, this festival was developed into the current day festival of cows.

Some people think that the tradition of gai-jatra was set to take the census of dead people, but some Buddhist Nevahs do not participate in it. Hence, such census would be incomplete one.

Gai-jatra was specially held for the pleasure of all people when modern means of recreation were not available. This festival is also for strengthening the community bond and for increasing the sense of belonging to the society.

August 4, 2009.

Note: ‘Saya’ in this year is on August 6, 2009.