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Ghata-sthapana: Installation of a Holy Water jar
Hindu Nepalis are celebrating the fifteen-day Dashain festival starting on the day of Ghata-sthapana in Aswin (September-October) following the Vikram calendar; on this first day of the bright fortnight they sow seeds in their prayer room installing an auspicious and holy water jar for invoking the Supreme Goddess called Maha-Laxmi, and then dispose of the sand they use for germinating shoots and leftover of the offerings on the full moon day ending the Dashain festival. People working away from their homes come back to be with their families to celebrate this festival. Everybody gets Dashain-bonus of one-month salary.
Literally, Ghata-sthapana means installation of a holy water jar in the prayer room for invoking the supreme Goddess called Maha-laxmi popularly known as Goddesses Durga Bhawani. On the first day of the bright forthright of the Aswin (September-October) month in the Vikram calendar, every Hindu household following their family tradition performs Ghata-sthapana rituals. This year, it falls on September 30.
Ghata-sthapana is also the first day of the nine-night festival called Nawarat. Starting on this day, devotees revere one Goddess after another on each morning and night for nine days and nights. All these nine Goddesses together are called Nava Durga and they all in one are called Goddesses Maha-Laxmi: one of the manifestations of Living Goddess Kumari. It symbolizes a complete set of nine numbers. There is no other independent number after nine. Thus, it represents the universe, too.
The Newar community performs Tantric rituals to invoke omnipotent Goddess Maha-laxmi: manifestation of all nine Goddesses in their family prayer room called Agam. They set two clay pots of about one and a half feet diameter, one pot on another, and in them, they set smaller clay dishes with sand collected from a holy river bank; they sow barely seeds in the sand to germinate holy shoots during the nine days period, and then harvest them on the tenth day as the blessing of Goddess Maha-Laxmi. After invoking Goddess Durga Bhavani in their prayer room, one of the family members usually a female member offers the Goddess holy water in the morning, and a mustard-seed oil lamp in the evening for nine days.
Communities other than the Newar perform Ghata-sthapana rituals in a slightly different manner. They spread the sand collected from a riverbank in a square shape on the floor at one corner of their prayer room, and sow barely seeds in it following the Vedic rituals. On this square sand bed, they set a holy water jar called Kalash and invoke Goddess Maha-Laxmi in it. Then, they harvest the holy shoots on the tenth day and offer these shoots as the blessing from Goddess Maha-Laxmi to family members, relatives and friends.
Starting on the Ghata-sthapana day, Nepalis celebrate Nawarat festival. Nawarat literally means nine nights. This is so called because devotees visit and make offerings to nine different Goddesses called Nava Durga before dawn and then in the evening during Nawarat. The Nawarat days are the most auspicious days for revering Goddess Nava Durga. Devotees go to a riverbank dedicated to each Goddess before dawn, take a holy dip in the river water or simply wash their face, and then, they revere the Goddess. In the evening they visit the same Goddess to revere Her offering mustard-seeds oil lamps. This goes on until the ninth day of Dashain.
The State also performs the Ghata-sthapana rituals at the prayer home called Dashain Ghar at each palace square called Layku elsewhere in Nepal following both the Tantric and Vedic rituals. The State priests perform morning and evening worship to Goddess Durga Bhavani and the Living Goddess Kumari for nine days starting on Ghata-sthapana.
