Sithi Nakha

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

On the sixth day of bright fortnight of Jyestha in the Vikram calendar, the Nevah community celebrates the Sithi Nakha doing various things such as cleaning water well, cooking and eating six different pancakes made out of different beans, and celebrating the festival of Sithi dyo also known as Lord Kumar: another son of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati at Jaisideval, Kathmandu, and of Goddess Candesvori in Bhaktapur. This day is the last day for holding an annual offering to the tutelary god called ‘Kuldevta’.

Lord Shiva and Parvati have town sons: Kumar and Ganesh. Kumar is a smart, slim and beautiful deity. He has a peacock for a ride. Ganesh is an elephant-headed and has a large belly, as he loves to eat sweet balls. He has a small mouse for a ride.

When they came of age, Lord Shiva and Parvati wanted to bestow a boon of the first offering on one of them. So Lord Shiva called them over to Kailash and said, “You guys have come of age; so, we want to grant one of you a boon of first offering on one condition that you make a round rip to Mount Sumeru; so, make a trip to Mount Sumeru and come first for the boon.”

Kumar having a peacock for a ride immediately took off and flew off to Mount Sumeru whereas Ganesh with a large belly and having a mouse for a ride was helpless to make such a trip.

Following the advice of the intelligent mouse, Ganesh successfully tricked his parents: Lord Shiva and Parvati to grant him the boon of first offering. As advised by the mouse, Ganesh requested the parents to stand together before him; then he made three rounds of the parents and then prostrated at their feet saying, “You are the Mount Sumeru and parents for me.” The parents without thinking twice bestowed upon Ganesh the boon of first offering.

After a long arduous journey to Mount Sumeru and back, Kumar found that his parents had already granted the boon of first offering to his brother Ganesh even though he had not stepped out of his house not to mention making a round trip to Mount Sumeru. So, Kumar disgusted by the unfair dealing of his parents with him protested it. So, Lord Shiva and Parvati made Kumar eligible for having the first offering but not the full size offering.

So, Nevah people have set up Kumar in the form of an eight-petal lotus carved in stone and set at the main entrance to their houses. They drop a first offering set on a leaf to this eight-petal Kumar on the way to making the first offering to Lord Ganesh.

On the sixth day of the bright fortnight of Jyestha, the Nevah community celebrates the festival of Sithi dyo: the Nevah name for Lord Kumar at the Jaisideval neighborhood.

Four days before the festival of Sithi Nakha, the attendants to the deity bring the idol of Sithi dyo and place it on a platform, strip the garments and ornaments off the idol and give an annual ritual bath to the idol on the platform especially built for this purpose at Jaisideval.

First, the attendant cleans the idol with holy water. Then, he pours cow milk on the idol, then yogurt, ghya (homemade butter), honey, and sugar. These five items together is called ‘panca mitra’ means five items of elixir.

Some other attendants collect all these five items flowing out of the idol of Lord Kumar and then distribute it as the blessing of the god.

Some minor repairs and repainting of the idol are done after the annual ritual bathing. Then the attendant decorates the idol dressed in his finery with ornaments, and places it at the public place called ‘Phalca’ for public offerings.

Local people and some people from other villages also come to make offerings to Sithi dyo. The main items of offerings are six different pancakes made out of six different beans and pancakes made out of rice flour in addition to the items of the regular offerings.

Then, on the day called Sithi Nakha, attendants bring fully decorated Sithi dyo to the public place for receiving the public offerings. In the evening devotees carry him on a portable shrine on shoulder poles and take him to Goddess Taleju at the palace square for the annual audience with the Goddess. However, Lord Kumar travels on a portable shrine without a musical band. This is another unique thing of the festival of Lord Kumar, as none of the divinity travels without a musical band.

Unlike any other attendants to gods and goddesses, an attendant to Lord Kumar is a woman.

Lord Kumar is the son of Lord Shiva but believed to be born of Ganga, as he was left on the bank of Ganga. Six Rishi (holy men) spouses together called ‘Krttikas’ found him. Baby Kumar was so beautiful, every one of the Rishi women wanted to suckle him. So, he developed another five more heads. So, Lord Kumar is a six-headed god. He is also known as Karttikeya deriving the name from ‘Krttikas’.

Lord Kumar is also known as the Chief of the divine army, and also the divine warrior. He killed the demon called Taraksura according to the holy scripts called ‘puranas’

In Bhaktapur, the Nevah community at the neighborhood called Caskhel celebrates the festival of Goddess Candesvori on his day. From the early morning devotees come to the three-tiered temple to Goddess Candesvori and make offerings to the goddess. In the evening, devotees carry the goddess on a portable shrine for her outings at the neighborhood.

On this day, the Nevah community cleans water wells. They believe that the rulers of water wells Nagas leave the wells for other destinations, as the water level goes down almost to the bottom because of the driest period of the year and the monsoon rains have not come yet.

On this day, the Nevah community keeps busy with cooking six different pancakes out of different bean pastes and celebrates the festival of pancakes and enjoys eating them the whole day.

This is the last day for performing an annul offering to the guardian god called ‘Kuldevta’ for anybody missing the annual offering in the prescribed period.  The annual offering to ‘Kuldevta’ starts off on the third day called ‘Aksatritya’ of the bright fortnight of Vaisaka (April-May) and ends on the sixth day of Jyestha (May-June) in the Vikram calendar. This period of making an annual offering to ‘Kuldevta’ is a little more than a month. Thereafter, any family missing this day for making offerings to ‘Kuldevta’ needs to wait for another year to hold a ‘Kuldevta’ puja means offering to Kuldevta.

The Nevah community holds an annual offering to tutelary ‘Kuldevta’ for the blessing from the guardian god or goddess for the protection from the evil spirits and misfortunes for a year. So, the Nevah community tries not to miss the annual offering to the guardian god or goddess. Every community has its own guardian god or goddess. Each community keeps it secrete. So, the deity is depicted in a triangular hole of about two inches cut into a flagstone or in a metallic sheet.

Thus, the Sithi Nakha is an important day for the Nevah community that revels this day as the day of Sithi dyo, Goddess Candesvori and cleaning water sources particularly the water wells.

May 21, 2009

Note: This year’s Sithi Nakha falls on May 29, 2009