Trimming tipless bamboo once a year during Ubhauli

By Nisha Rai Dharan, May 17: The famous Budhasubba temple complex in Dharan is the only place in Nepal where tipless bamboo is found. One has to wait for the Ubhauli festival to cut this bamboo. There is a tradition that even if the bamboo dries, falls and breaks apart for a year, it cannot be removed, touched or cut until the festival.

Bamboo branches and pieces are distributed to devotees as offerings after the puja of the Ubhauli festival, according to Uttam Ale Magar, the present priest of the seventeenth generation. There is a belief that keeping pieces of bamboo in the house protects from evil. The Budhasubba’s tipless bamboos are cut in a sign of preparation for the Ubhauli festival.

He said that on the day of the festival, a procession with a mark of copper plate, a silver crown, a drum and cymbals provided by the then King seventeen generations ago for worship at the temple reaches the temple from the house of the priest. 

A special pooja is performed by draping a silver crown on the tomb of Budhasubba.

The tradition of carving the name of a young man and woman in the bamboo tree as a symbol of love is soaring in popularity. Currently, there is a practice of tying the bamboo with thread to protect them from damage. 

According to Ale, devotees from different parts of Nepal flock here in the hope of fulfilling all their demands.

We have been worshipping this temple for centuries and the bamboo of this temple complex has its own existence predating King Prithvi Narayan Shah, he added.

According to priest Ale, the mark provided for worship was before the unification of Nepal, which the experts from the Department of Archaeology have also confirmed.

The priest has weapons, including swords, of that time. However, he said that the date was not mentioned on the mark.

Experts say that the mark may have been given by the King of the Sen dynasty king during Sen-era. 

From the time of Prithvi Narayan Shah, Shah kings started using ‘red mark’, which used red ink. 

Scholars have different arguments about the origin, legend, and history of the origin of the Budhasubba temple, but devotees believe that they will get what they ask for from the temple.  

The temple is a centre of faith for Nepalis across the world. Lately, the bamboo plants have started drying up in the middle of the bamboo bushes. 

It is said that they became dried due to a lack of water and proper conservation.

Experts, however, said that increase in the concrete structures on the temple premises has lowered the access of bamboo roots to the soil, putting them at risk.  

Mayor Tilak Rai said that the Dharan Sub-Metropolitan Municipality has approved the plan for its protection.