Sending Off Demon In Nepal

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On July 18, 2012, Nepalis had sent off a demon called Gaatha Muga in an effigy in the Kathmandu Valley. This is an annual ritual of the Nevah people. Some of them spend a whole day making an effigy of the demon at each neighborhood of Bhaktapur only to take the effigy out of the town and burnt them down in the evening. A small size effigy of the demon stands the whole day at each neighborhood giving an opportunity to girl children to hang up their dolls made of pieces of old clothing on it, and everybody to make a touch of newly bought five-metal or a single-metal simple iron ring with such an effigy and wear it on the ring finger of left hand to ward off any evil spirits.

The day is the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Ashwin in the Nepal calendar, Nepalis have dedicated this day for honoring a demon called Gaatha Muga in the Kathmandu Valley appreciating his assistance to farmers in plowing fields and rice transplanting.

On this day, every believer gets up early in the morning and goes to the nearby sacred embankment of a river, and takes a dip in the holy water or simply washes legs, hands and face, and then goes around seeking blessing of deities of every kind in the embankment area. Thereafter, s/he buys a five-metal or a single-metal iron ring and takes it to a small effigy (Such an effigy is a simple tripod made of three bunches of wheat straw or fresh reeds) of the demon standing at crossroads, and touches the ring to the effigy and wears it on the ring finger of her/his hand to ward off evil spirits until the mid November when Nepalis celebrate the day of Goddess of Wealth called Lakshmi. On this day, everyone takes off the five-metal or simple iron ring and ties it to the tail of a cow: the animal form of the Goddess Lakshmi. Wearing such a ring, every believer feels safe from any sorts of evil spirits that might around for causing harm to humans.

Children keep busy with collecting taxes from the drivers from the early morning. A group of children takes a long rope to make a barricade on a road to stop any vehicle coming or going. A half of the group holds one end of the rope and another half holds other end of the rope making a barricade on the road. Each driver stops the vehicle at the rope barricade and then gives a coin to the children. Then, the children lower the rope allowing a vehicle to pass. Holding a large circular wicker dish, some children go to the neighborhood stores to collect taxes from every store. Children holding such a wicker dish stand at every store and ask for a tax. Then, the storeowner tosses a coin or a candy on the wicker dish. Then, the children move on to another store. All the money and items collected on this day are spent on sending off the demon.

One of the ancient Nepalese rulers had set this tradition of letting the youngsters collect taxes in the name of the demon. Children could collect taxes from the passersby, drivers and storeowners. However, an amount of such taxes were set to the discretion of the taxpayers. So, the tax might be any amount depending on the generosity of the taxpayer. Nepalis continue this tradition although laws forbid such tax collection.

The demon dwelling in the body of farmers works for the period of the rice transplantation. Farmers invite the demon spirit to come to their help in working on the field in the beginning of the rice-transplantation season. Every year, farmers hold an invitational ritual. A musical band leads a group of farmers to the sites where they believe the demon spirit resides. At each site, the musical band stops playing; then the senior farmer takes out a handful of cooked rice from the metal container and tosses it to the demon spirit at the site and invites the demon spirit to come to reside in the bodies of farmers uttering mantras that the demon spirit understands.

After the rituals of inviting the demon spirit, farmers store their musical instruments. They don’t play any sorts of musical instruments fearing that the sounds of musical instruments would scare away the demon spirit. Actually, they don’t have much time and energy at all to play any musical instruments during the rice-plantation season.

For almost three months, farmers possessed by the demon spirit could do the heavy work on the rice fields without feeling any hardship. Thus, farmers could sense that they have the demon spirit working for them. They also believe that they are feeding the demon in them eating twice the regular dish. As such, farmers make the demon work.

The rice transplantation season ends in the Kathmandu Valley on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of the Ashwin in the Nepal calendar. Farmers don’t need the demon spirit any more. So, they celebrate the send-off of the demon on the night of this day. Thereafter, farmers don’t transplant rice.

On the eve of the day of sending off the demon, women folks do the laundry and clean the whole house. For three months, farmers have no time for changing their clothes, and washing their bodies. Their clothes have been soaked in sweat. So, women take the whole day to do the laundry and to clean the house. Members of each household take purification bath to wash themselves over all mud and dirt they have accumulated during the three months of the rice-transplantation season.

Each neighborhood prepares an effigy of the demon especially in Bhaktapur, as this town is a center of the ancient culture, and primarily of farmers. Volunteers prepare an effigy of the demon at each neighborhood. Each neighborhood has its own unique effigy. So, you will find so many different effigies in Bhaktapur.

Making an effigy of the demon is a full day work. A voluntary painter paints a head of the demon: Gaatha Muga on an upturned clay pitcher. Young boys voluntarily go to collect roots of trees to set on the top of the pitcher as the hairs. Some volunteers make a hollow body out of wheat straw. Then, they set the head on the body, and keep it on display.

In the evening, youngsters make the torches of wheat straw in preparation for taking the effigy to its destination. Each neighborhood has its destination for taking the effigy and then burns it down there. Youngsters carry such wheat-straw torches to light up the way to the demon in an effigy. A man wears the hollow effigy of the demon and carries it to its destination. In the case of a simple effigy, two men carry the effigy made of three bundles of wheat straw on a shoulder pole. Youngsters carrying wheat-straw torches lead it, and some adults follow it calling out various slogans on the way. By then, farmers can bring back the musical instruments they have stored and play them to lead the demon in an effigy to the destination

At each destination, they set the demon in an effigy and let it stand for some time. Youngsters carrying wheat straw torches stand surrounding it and then call out some sorts of slogans for sending off the demon in an effigy. Then, they toss their torches at the effigy and let it burn down.

After sending off the demon in an effigy, all of the men and youngsters take a purification dip in the water of a nearby stream and come back home chanting the names of various deities.

In Kathmandu, they send off the demon in a different way. The Nevah community of Kathmandu uses fresh green reeds instead of wheat straw for making an effigy of the demon at each crossroads and a large effigy for the evening at a neighborhood. They assign a man to be the living effigy of the demon in the evening. They strip him down to the underwear and draw various male and female sex organs on his body, feed him on the dish of flattened rice and yogurt. They let him hold a clay dish. Youngsters put all the money they have collected during the day in the dish. They take him around the neighborhood with the dish on his hands for showing the people they have the human effigy of the demon. Some people drop money in the dish. After going around the neighborhood, they set him on a bundle of the fresh green reeds, and then, youngsters drag him on a bundle of the reeds to the nearby river to dispose of the demon in a human effigy. The man keeps all the money in the dish.

The night of this day is the most auspicious one for warding off evil spirits, too. Most of the households prepare a dish of foods for evil spirits. They fill up a clay bowl with the husk of flattened rice, put fresh buffalo blood and liver on the husk, and then insert a small clay bowl with glowing charcoal with the pieces of red pepper on it for making smokes of pepper in the husk. Some Nepalis believe that evil spirits enjoy inhaling the pepper smokes and eating fresh buffalo blood and liver with the flattened-rice-husk dish.

A Tantric priest invokes all the evil spirits the home is infested with into the dish. Once all the evil spirits are in the dish then the priest binds them together to the dish with the Tantric mantras. Then, someone needs to take it to the nearest crossroads and leave it there.

One of the men not scare of any evil spirits takes the dish holding by his two hands at the chest level to the nearest crossroads and sets it there. He returns home not looking back, and cleans his mouth and eyes with water before entering the home. Evil spirits might follow him if he looks back. Cleaning mouth and eyes are necessary to remove any tiny elements of evil spirits possibly attached to these two sense organs. This is done at the early night.

This night also is the auspicious one for witches to perform their annual rituals. Nepalese witches manage to hold everything they need in a small wicker container. They hold even a live buffalo in such a container and everything they need to satisfy the evil spirits that stand in their way to the deity of witchcraft. Such a small wicker basket contains everything they need to make offerings to the deity at the midnight.

Students of witchcrafts graduate on the night of this day. They follow their witch teacher to the deity to make offerings of graduating the witchcrafts. Thereafter, they become new witches and can practice the witchcrafts. New graduates of witchcrafts keep the contacts with their teachers in case they need help in practicing the witchcrafts.

The night of this day is also the most auspicious one for beginners to start off learning the witchcraft. Every new learner witch has to make an offering of the sacrifice of her husband or a son to the deity otherwise she would not be able to complete the witchcraft lesson.

July 20, 2012