Machhindranath Jatra continues smoothly

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Lalitpur, May 13:The local election did not significantly affect the Rato Machhindranath Jatra in Lalitpur.

According to Jyapu Samaj, one of the main bodies in charge of managing the festival, the Jatra went ahead smoothly and will continue to proceed as normal despite the polls scheduled for Friday.

Since the chariot procession, dedicated to the scarlet deity of rain and good harvest known also as Karunamaya and Lokeshwor, started last week, locals of Patan have been worried that the Jatra, held after a COVID-induced hiatus of two years, would be hampered by local election. 

 However, Chandra Maharjan, president of Jyapu Samaj, assured everyone that the festival would move ahead as usual.

“The election has not affected us much,” Maharjan told The Rising Nepal. “We have not faced a lack of manpower as some have suggested and have been able to conduct all the rituals without any hindrance.”

Maharjan said that even those involved in electoral campaigns had been actively participating in the Jatra.

Furthermore, Maharjan said that the Machhindranath chariot would be pulled on Friday (election day) too. Every year, a day after coconuts are dropped from the top of the 48-foot wooden carriage, women pull it a few metres from Lagankhel to Thati. 

This year, that day had fallen on Friday. This had caused many Patan residents to assume that that particular leg would be postponed. But that will not happen, Maharjan clarified.

“If we delay that particular leg, it will affect our ability to fix the auspicious dates for the remaining portion of the Jatra. It is not something we can defer or cancel,” Maharjan said.

The chariot procession has not faced a lack of manpower during electoral campaigns enabling to conduct all the rituals without any hindrance. Neither will the festival interfere with the election nor will the election affect the festival.

But how practical is it to assume that people will gather to pull the chariot instead of going to vote? Maharjan answered that the two would not collide. “Women pull the chariot early in the morning and everything is over by 5.30 am.”

“Neither will the festival interfere with the election nor will the election affect the festival,” he stressed.

The Rato Machhindranath Jatra is the longest chariot festival of Nepal. It is believed to be a common festival for the entire Kathmandu Valley. 

When the chariot is pulled to Gabahal, the residents of Kathmandu celebrate the Jatra, when it is pulled to Sundhara, the people of Bhaktapur celebrate Jatra, when it is taken to Lagankhel, the locals of Lalitpur celebrate and when it is taken to Jawalakhel, the rulers and the entire country celebrates.

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