INDRA JATRA Festival Tour Nepal 2012

Indra Jatra and the living Goddess Kumari

This festival falls on the fourteenth day of the bright moon fortnight of September but it starts on the twelfth day of the bright fortnight; then all together it lasts for eight day. The main day of the festival is believed to be the fourteenth day of the fortnight. On the twelfth day of the September bright fortnight a thirty-two feet's long pole is erected at the Hanuman Dhoka palace in Basantapur. This pole has been brought always traditionally from the forest of Bhaktapur. After adjusting the long pole Lord Indra's idol is worshipped. The lord's idol keeps tying around by the threads. There's an interesting anecdote regarding to this tying Indra.

Once Lord Indra's mother was on her religious worshipping program and she was in need of a flower called Parijat. His mother then sent him to search the flower; then lord Indra went in search of that flower; and finally he saw that flower there in the garden of Hanuman Dhoka. He then thought of stealing the flower; and went to steal the flower. Suddenly a soothsayer Baidhya saw him and captivated him there and he was released only after eight day when his mother came there to request the soothsayer. So this festival lasts for eight days. The lord's idol is kept at the certain Guthiyar's house and it is brought only once in a year when the festival starts. The fair starts only when lord Indra is worshipped there highly in a traditional manner. Many people crowd there to look the starting day of the festival. Since that day the Hanuman Dhoka palace looks very unusual; until the ending of the fete different kinds of mask dances from different parts of the valley are demonstrated.
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