Badka Atwari festival celebrated with fanfare

By Our Correspondent 

Rupandehi, Sept 5 : The Tharu communities of Rupandehi in West Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu districts celebrated the Badka Atwari festival with great fanfare on Sunday.

 The Tharu community worships Bhima in the festival of Badka Atwari and prayed the sun god. 

The Tharu community has a tradition of worshiping Bhima, the second of five Pandava brothers,  with a will of becoming as strong as Bhima.

The Tharus invite daughters, sisters, and nieces to eat and feed sugar bread at this festival. 

The Tharu community people of Dang, Banke, and Bardiya districts in the western Terai celebrate this festival on the first Sunday after Teej, while the Tharu communities of Rupandehi, Kapilvastu and Nawalparasi areas celebrate this festival only on the following Sunday if it falls within six days of Teej. 

The Tharu community of Dang, Banke, and Bardiya celebrated Badka Atwari last week.

Former President of Tharu Welfare Assembly Rupandehi Dul Bahadur Chaudhary said that the Tharu community in the district celebrated this festival on Sunday.

Tharu community activist Kewal Prasad Tharu said that Badka Atwari is the biggest festival of the Tharu community.

 Saraswati Tharu of Saina Maina- 4,  Rupandehi,  had celebrated the festival by staying at home for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year, the Tharu community gathered and celebrated in public, dancing in groups.

 On the occasion of Badka Atari, most of the municipalities in the three districts, including Tilottama Municipality, Gaidahwa Rural Municipality, Samarmai Rural Municipality, and Suddhodhan Rural Municipality of Rupandehi had given a public holiday.