Preparations for Satyawati Temple Fair underway

By Rekhi Ram Rana

Tansen, Nov 1: Preparations have been intensified for the fair, where people proclaim their wishes aloud.

The fair is held every year at Satyawati Temple in Tinau Rural Municipality-4 of Palpa district.

Every year, on the occasion of Kartik Sukla Purnima, devotees gather at the Satyawati Temple to shout out their wishes during this special fair. 

According to Dan Bahadur Gaha, the Chairperson of the Temple Management Committee, preparations for this year’s festival have been intensified.

He said that arrangements for transportation, parking, and security have been made to facilitate devotees coming to shout out their wishes.

Cleaning of the temple premises and the lake area has already been completed. The committee informed that the festival is being organised in coordination with the local government, police, administration, and residents.

Devotees can reach Satyawati Lake either on foot or by vehicle from Chaubis Mile and Jhumsa along the Siddhartha Highway. 

Chairperson Gaha said that, like in previous years, a large number of devotees are expected this year as well because of favourable astrological timing.

The Satyawati fair is held every year on the full moon following Nepal’s second biggest festival, Tihar. 

Former committee chairperson Sunbir Gaha said that if the full moon falls in the month of Kartik, it is considered especially auspicious.

According to legend, in ancient times, Goddess Satyawati performed penance in the dense forest near the lake and attained divine power. 

It is believed that since the goddess was deaf, devotees must shout their wishes near Satyawati Lake so that she can hear them and grant their desires. Because of this belief, thousands of devotees visit the site every year following Tihar to shout out their wishes.

People from various parts of Nepal and even from India come to attend the fair.  It is customary for devotees to bring bamboo, cane, or sal poles, plant them at night near the lake, and then return the next day to identify their own poles, worship them, and return home.

According to Tinau Rural Municipality Chairperson Prem Shrestha, it is also a tradition to offer sacrifices of goats and to release pigeons near the temple as part of the ritual.