The Majhi Community of Baglung does not sow Jamara

By Arjun Karki,Baglung, Sept. 24: The first day of Nepal’s great festival, Bada Dashain, is celebrated with great fanfare across the country. Traditionally, every household sowed Jamara during Ghatasthapana.

However, the marginalised Majhi community in Baglung has continued its unique tradition of not keeping Jamara during Dashain for many years. Leaders of the Majhi community in Khaniyabash, Baglung Municipality–1, said they stopped planting jamara long ago due to the fear of misfortune.

Local resident Krishna Majhi said that his family has not sown Jamara in their home during Bada Dashain for years, and the same practice continues this year.

“According to our traditional belief, keeping Jamara at home makes Dashain inauspicious. To avoid misfortune, as our ancestors advised, we do not plant Jamara during Dashain,” he explained.

Similarly, local Som Bahadur Majhi said that although Jamara was planted until about one hundred and fifty years ago, the practice was discontinued after it was believed to bring misfortune.

“Although we continue to celebrate Dashain, planting Jamara in our own homes was stopped from our grandfather’s time,” he said. “In the past, whenever Jamara was planted, unfortunate incidents, such as the death of a daughter in the family, would often occur. After all, the Majhi families in the village collectively decided to stop planting Jamara, and such misfortunes stopped.”

Local resident Bal Bahadur Majhi mentioned that during Dashain, people bring Jamara from other communities or from the Kalika Bhagwati Temple for Tika.

He added that Majhi families in other places, such as Phalebas in Parbat and Balewa in Baglung, still plant Jamara at home. “But in Maldhunga, after an old incident, this practice was abandoned. Our ancestors believed misfortune arose from planting jamara, so we have continued not planting it,” he said.

Today, 17 Majhi families in Khaniyabash continue this tradition, following their own customs. Although they celebrate Dashain in other ways, many outsiders still view the Majhi community’s practice of not planting Jamara as unusual.