LMC extends financial assistance to cultural bodies

By A Staff Reporter,Lalitpur, June 19: Lalitpur Metropolitan City has contributed Rs. 6 million for the setting up and operation of revolving funds for the Manmaneshwori Payo Jatra, Navadurga Bhawani Devi Guthi and Hasapota Ganesh. The city signed agreements for the same with the bodies managing the three deities and festivals on Sunday.

Amidst a programme held at the LMC office, Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan handed over cheques for Rs. 2.5 million each to the Manmaneshwori Payo Jatra Management Committee, Mangal Bazaar and the Shree Navadurga Bhawani Devi Guthi, Thecho. Similarly, he provided Rs. 1 million to the Hasapota Ganesh Religious Management Committee, Jhamsikhel.

Manmaneshwori, also known simply as Maneshwori, is the Rajrajeshwori (patron deity of the monarchs) embraced by the Lichchhavi ruler Mandev in the fifth century AD. The Payo Jatra is a festival related to the deity performed yearly during Dashain. It was stopped 29 years ago due to a lack of resources but restarted five years ago on the initiative of the local community and with support from the city.

The Navadurgas of Thecho are nine ancient goddesses that protect the city of Lalitpur. They are incarnated in the bodies of selected individuals, called Devgans, twice a year for the Navadurga Dance.

The Hasapota Ganesh is also a Lichchhavi-era deity worshipped by not only the residents of Lalitpur but also by the people of Kathmandu and Kirtipur. It is an important shrine that is visited during the Dipankar Yatra, possibly the longest religious walk in the country. Those who offer a needle to the god here are believed to be cured of their blisters and hives.

Krishna Bahadur Bista, chairman of the Hasapota Committee, promised to utilise the fund to give continuity to the traditions associated with the temple and resume old customs that had stopped due to a shortage of money.

 Samrajya Dev Shrestha of the Manmaneshwori Committee asked the metro to help resume other rituals associated with the goddess too. Bikash Mali from Thecho’s Navadurga also requested the city to extend further assistance for the preservation of the festivals.

Speaking on the occasion, Lalitpur’s Deputy Mayor Manjali Shakya Bajracharya said that the revolving funds showed LMC’s commitment to culture and heritage but stressed that it alone would not be enough to preserve them. “This is only seed money. It cannot cover the cost of everything,” she said, adding, “We must show the same enthusiasm and determination that our ancestors showed to protect and promote our culture.”

Mayor Maharjan also said that community bodies needed to do their homework and approach institutions like banks and corporations for financial support. He also shared that the short-sighted and ill-considered actions of the governments and planners of the past had led to the state we have today where we have to worry about the very existence of our intangible heritage.