1

Chapter I: - , Audience and Cosmic Consciousness

Audience

An audience is a group of people who participate in a show. It is a general term used for the entity that is present as part in a performance. The performer shares the same space, the same time and the same air with the present members of the audience. The performer is the subject and object of his or her own piece of art and also involves the audience into this multilayered relationship. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and others allow only modest clapping and criticism and reception. The audience in other show and area is completely different that of the audience of performing jatras and festivals. Cambridge International Dictionary of

English defines audience as-“the group of people gathered in one place to watch or listen to a play, film, speaker etc or the people watching or listening to a particular television or radio program”(79). In the performance of jatras audience can be of two types- some watch the performance through media and others do experience them. According to Assassi,” the development of festival focus on three concepts: audience challenge, economic challenge, and artistic challenge” (59). The audience is also part for the development of a festival. But for the religious devotees, they participate themselves. In fact, different performances also attract the audiences in a festival.

Unlike a television or movie audiences, the live performance audiences always participate in some way in a performance. In fact, the level of audience participation can be anywhere on a continue from community creation and participation to total separation of audience and performer. In many cultures religious events offer an opportunity to enact stories from a group's mythos-historical past. Such presentations may be necessary to ensure the health of the community and its members or to effect a particular transition. Our personal histories, including our age, culture, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, education or social class 2 play a part in our response to a performance. If we are watching a performance from a culture outside of our own, we may not understand its nuances, or point of view, or performance style.

The Newari people incorporate different aspects of the weather and climate in their daily lives. They try to adjust weather and climate even for religious practices and beliefs.

The most important festival of the year is Indara Jatra where god of rain and heaven is worshipped. He is worshipped for bearing good weather, climate in and also for providing a good crop for the people. Newars, especially the farmers are able to understand and work with the weather by making it more accessible through religious customs, and take advantage of the different resources as the climate of the area provides them with crops and animals in order to protect themselves against the sometime harsh weather patterns. The performance of jatras is famous because of their live nature and of religious one. This creates a circular flow of energy, as performer affects audiences and audiences affect performer.

Jatras are not only religious occasions they are also moments of memories. So, in such performances, people with great enthusiasm. Especially, believe that the gross elements, earth, water, air, fire out of which the body is supposed to be composed and into which it is dissolved. People from other community and religion also may involve because of cosmic performance in jatras. Moreover, it is believed that jatras are moment of meeting between gods and divine beings.

In , especially, Newars celebrate different jatras and festivals of cosmic nature in which many people participate. There are many events and festivals during the year in Newari culture in Kathmandu. Majority of these annual events are determined by the lunar calendar. The sequence of these events constitutes a cycle in the dictionary sense of a period in which a certain round of events is completed, recurring in the same order in equal succeeding periods. According to Rajendra Pradhan, the lunar year is normally divided into 3 twelve lunar months. The lunar month begins on the day following the new or dark moon, which ends the previous months. It is very difficult to mark the festivals in order. Seasons are very important factors in determining the time of particular festivals and jatras. Many festivals are even named after seasons. There are six seasons in namely Vasanta,

Grisma, Varsa, Sarad, Hemanta and Sisir, each season occupies two-month time span.

Similarly, the devotional songs at the places of devotional singing () change according to the change of season. People consider that Vasanta marks the renewal of seasons because it is considered to be the king of the seasons. However, festivals like Gathamugah, which

Newar people consider to be the beginning of ritual, fall in autumn. The solar year, which is of very much lesser importance for the ritual cycle, contains twelve months. The lunar cycle as a whole seems on the surface at least to celebrate the festivals and events in Newari culture. In as sense, they celebrate the festivals and events as the positions of Sun,Moon and

Earth which are the parts of cosmos. According to Rajendra Pradhan, “the main day for the worship of Indra is the day of the full moon” (389). In a sense, Indra Jatra is connected with celestials body. So, for them celebration of festivals is the route to reach up to gods and goddesses. The annual festival cycle is closely connected with the seasons and the agricultural cycle. The jatra is a stage from where the audiences can lively watch the activities of cosmic figures. They celebrate the different festivals and events only in particular places as their myths and religious beliefs. Among them, Indra Jatra is one in which many people in the valley celebrate with great enthusiasm. Indra Jatra in Kathmandu is the period in which the living goddess, , makes her main public appearance, and establishes her relationship to Gorkha King. Other gods and goddesses also appear in the

Indra Jatra and are seen with their followers/lovers.

Performing culture, as performer, audience, critic, insider, and outsider, is an intensely ethical act. Performance scholars have outlined pitfalls and suggested ways through 4 the dilemmas of performing self and other, present and past, individual and community.

Lively different Gods and Goddess see the audiences so they may feel transforming themselves to the world of cosmic figures. The face indicates the character of the god or goddess. The facial code is figurative. It reproduces the different forms of the god. As the face does to the statue, the mask gives to each dancer individuality and an identity. The mask is also the support of a mental image of a god. It is from his mask and his costume, more precisely from the colours of the masks, that one can identify him. Similarly, the dances are today a part of the Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu. For the performance of this cosmic figure, people wear masks. Lakhey dances are a popular event during Indra Jatra for the audience. The dance of Lakhey is performed by a man. The dancer wears a red mask surmounted by a great mane composed of yak hair. Anna Vergati, in the book Gods and

Masks of the Kathmandu Valley has made surface study about the use and importance of mask among the main ethnic group of the valley, the Newars. She argues: “Masks which are worn by men during rituals or festivals are part of their costumes”(57). He wears only a waistcoat over his bare chest and a green skirt(jama) held, at the waist, by a belt and a chain of bells. When he dances he waves little scarves, white in colour and attached to his wrists and arms. The Lakhey dancer is accompanied by traditional Newari music. The verve and violent gyrations of a Lakhey are inspired by the music created by dhime and bhushya.

Dhime is the most common and significant Newari musical instrument. Among all the dances performed during Indra Jatra, it is believed that the Lakhey dance is the only dance that is not taught or practiced. This dance is inherited by the dancer from the spirit possessing the mask.

The worship of human beings who are viewed as holy or as incarnations of various spiritual beings is common in or . Both the religions seek out these individuals-both interactions and holy ascetics-and take darsan (glimse) of them, hoping that such interaction will help devotees to gain merit and advance along the spiritual path. 5

However, unlike the encounter between the individual to the deity enshrined in a temple or paraded through the streets, upon meeting these spirituals beings, individuals often request teachings. This practice reflects a direct and obvious form of communication between the incarnation or holy man and the individual. Such festivals are the medium to reach to god, this may be the reason that a mass come to take part in Indra Jatra. Between the individual and the incarnate being or holy man, the communication can be characterized as a direct, human-to-human interaction, in which teachings are often transmitted and in which a dialogue can occur. The communication between the devotee and the deity residing in an inorganic form is more subtle and in many cases, more symbolic, but is nonetheless intended by the markers of the images. Because of previous emphasis on her incarnate, or human, dimension, Kumari has been compared primarily with other human spiritual beings or incarnations. She communicates with the devotee more closely, which resembles the relationship expected between devotees and shrine images than between devotees and human beings. In fact, despite obvious physiological similarities between Kumari and other organic incarnations or holy persons, the treatment of the child before she becomes the goddess and the treatment of the goddess herself clearly relates to image preparation and worship. Images of particular gods and goddesses are taken periodically from their respective shrines to allow the people to see the gods and goddesses and to enable particular gods and goddesses to see one another, so is Kumari brought to receive darsan (glimpse) from devotees. They touch the feet of goddess, make offerings of flowers, fruit, and rice, and take blessings from the goddess by placing tika (mark on forehead) from her throne on their forehead. Ritual food to offer the gods varies festival to festival according to the gods and goddesses.

During these proceedings, Kumari responds in no manner that might be identified as human-to-human interaction. Throughout the entire process of worship, the goddess sits quietly viewing the festival procession, listening to music, and occasionally looking at a 6 devotee. Her facial expression remains same. One needs only to think of the interaction between the holy yogin or a great spiritual teacher and the devotee in order to see that Kumari resides on her throne as an image, not as human being. Once a deity is invoked into an image, devotees understood that deity to be present in that image. Therefore, like and image, the body of the girl is filled with the presence of Kumari, thereby giving the goddess a physical form so that she is available for devotion in the same manner as a deity who manifests in a carefully-crafted, inanimate body. In addition to the way in which Kumari reserves herself from her devotees, the treatment of the goddess' form more closely resembles that of an image than a human. In the case of most humans who are propitiated, there is no set-aside time in which the spiritual being must be invoked into the purified human form. Just as an image would not be propitiated until the deity is invoked into it, so is Kumari simply a little girl until the goddess manifests in her body. Devotee will have a different feeling whenever they take the darsan (glimpse) of Kumari because a little girl they see in some transe-human form. Following the invocation, the incarnate goddess is dressed in her traditional red garment and adorned with jewelry that is specific to her iconography. Her hair is placed in the characteristic bun on top of her head and tied with a red ribbon.

The devotees gather to celebrate the Indra Jatra with great enthusiasm as this festival is full of many performances, and dances in different forms. The main reason is; they see the human like them in the form of goddess. As the Kumari is believed that she is the goddess of power, not only religious devotee go for darsan (glimpse) but the head of country goes with political views that having darsan (glimpse) of Kumari once they can extend their time for one more year. The head of nation,(earlier King and Queen now President) goes for prasad(oblation) and tika (mark on forehead) from Kumari. Other audiences are government officers, people from different professions and institutions and even the tourist present in the performance. As soon as the President comes into the adjoining balcony Prasad (holy food of 7

Gods and Goddesses) of Kumari and other gods and goddesses are offered to him, who receives it as a token of great respect. He just expresses great reverence and also offer coins to Kumari as a token of respect according to age-old traditions. After this ceremony, a gun shot is fired and the main chariots of Kumari and other junior chariots of Ganesh and Bhairav are drawn by the people with the help of thick ropes lumbering by their sides. This scene is very jubilant when the crowd becomes excited to have darshan (glimpse) of Kumari. When the chariots are drawn through the streets devotees shower flowers, rice and coins on the charitos of Kumari and Ganesh and Bhairav with reverence. The scene of streets is very joyous when the whole atmosphere is fragrant with incense, and hanging lamps. It is believed that the chariot procession will prevent the city from harm and evils. To witness the scene of the Kumari procession thousands of people gather at Basantpur for the grand celebration.

Devotees and people of faith also gather in Kumari chowk (courtyard) to get blessings of Kumari. It is generally believed that if Kumari smiles while giving tika (mark), the goddess is happy and would bestow health, wealth and prosperity. However, lack of cheerfulness on her face is indication of bad luck and misfortune. During worshipping,

Kumari has to do nothing, just to sit when worshippers offer her fruits, eggs, home made alcohol. She blesses the worshiper without speaking a word. For the blessing from Kumari, many people gather to worship her. The Hindus believe that those who worship the virgin goddess will be blessed with wealth and fortune. Though the living goddess is a Buddhist she is worshipped by Hindus as well. The goddesses is worshipped, especially when she is seated on her throne with powerful Shri Yantra Mandala.The participants wouldn't only the devotees but the people from other culture and religion also present to watch the common human being in the form of cosmic figure. During the Indra Jatra streets are full of different 8 types of performance with many people gathering to watch them lively. According to John

Bell:

Parades and processions make more complete use of the street as performance

site than do stationary street performances. They exploit not only the public

nature of such sites and the possibility of reaching an undifferentiated

audiences which exists on the street, but also the physical length of the street

and the possibilities of movement along, which are in fact the essence of the

street's spatial and public character. (278)

Devotees participate in the street for processions. The devotees who participate in such processions feel that that are different from other people who have not participated because they are with the Gods and Goddesses and communicating with them. In addition to these similarities in bodily and image preparation, invocation of the deity and mode of communication between the deity and the devotee, other aspects of Kumari worship also place her in the category of an incarnate image.

During the festival of Indra Jatra, the is worshiped by the farmers of

Kathmandu, the Jyapu (a clan of Newari caste) of Kilagu, in the central part of the town. The dance of the elephant during Indra Jatra is performed by two members of the farmers' caste.

Among the Newars it is well known that the elephant is the vehicle of the god Indra. For the audiences, the searching of Indra by Pulu Kishi elephant is also an attraction. The elephant goes here and there to search his master, Indra.

Many people participate to celebrate Indra Jatra and perform the activities of different gods and goddess. They go for darsan (glimpse) to the gods and goddesses. The term darsan literally means "seeing". However, it connotes a great deal more than simply looking at the deity. In both the Buddhist and Hindu contexts, "taking darsan" implies that the devotee not 9 only sees the deity, but is also seen by the deity. Diana Eck says: “...the central act of Hindu worship, from the point of view of the lay person, is to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one's own eyes, to see and to be seen by the deity” (3). Like other forms of worship, through the act of taking darsan, devotees gain merit. The gaining of merit is an important component in worship practices. Therefore, whether the devotee propitiates the deity with flowers, food, and sweet scents, or simply goes to home of the deity in order to take darsan (glimpse) and be in the deity's presence, the individual hopes to gain something in the process. In particular, one makes offerings or takes darsan in the hope of gaining merit for a better future, the fulfillment of a more immediate need, such as the gift of offspring or the health of a family member. When the audiences are present in face to face mode with the

Gods and Goddesses, they may have different feeling than usually they have.

Vishnu is the preserver of the universe and comes to the earth from time to time in his different manifestation form. During the celebration of Indra Jatra different manifestation form of cosmic figure in the form of human beings can be seen. People gather in

Indra Jatra also to pay homage to the god Vishnu. It is believed that the disguise form of the human beings of cosmic gods and goddess is vehicle to reach up to the real one because the cosmic gods and goddess do not come into the earth. Their divinity is one thing and the divinity we shall ultimately achieve is another thing. Our transformed and liberated existence will be very different. When a human being is realized and consciously transformed, when somebody's consciousness is divinized and flooded with peace, light, at that time he brings down the highest truth from above into the heart of earth-plane. He becomes a direct, conscious channel of God to fulfill the Divine on earth. On the earth, people believe in Gods.

They think that Gods determine their future and provide peace and prosperity. So, people celebrate festivals to respect different Gods and Goddesses. The literal meaning of the word avatar is "descent," and it is usually understood to mean divine descent. Avatars are savior 10 forms of a god that descend to earth to intervene whenever help is needed to restore

(moral order) and peace. During Indra Jatra different incarnate forms of Vishnu are displayed so people gather to worship and respect them. As audience, it is believed that whenever these

Gods and Goddesses are worshipped, they become happy and help the human beings whenever they need.

Audiences watching Indra Jatra at Dhoka

Indra Jatra

Indra Jatra, among several other things, dramatizes the relationship of human being with cosmos. Kuiper in his book Ancient Indian Cosmology describes that” through rituals, the ruler was viewed as the coordinator and sustainer of the realm”(241). But there is more to say. The pole raised in front of the royal palace also incarnates in some respects, the cosmic 11 pillar that supports the universe and the axis mundi linking Heaven and Earth. It symbolizes the very road along which the blessing of Heaven reaches the Earth. During this festival, devotees perform divine roles and march through the streets and chowks (courtyard) as if they are various gods and goddess, not mere individuals of this place. Nowadays, jatras are often taken as religious activity. Since there are so many gods and goddesses to meet and come across during the festival, everyone believes that this is a religious moment. Whole city comes to watch deities. They are not mere audience but someone enroute to pilgrimage. They come to pay homage. They feel that what they are watching is not a mere performance but real deities coming to them. This also means that the audiences feel that they are not mere audience standing on some familiar spot and moment but going through some rare cosmic moments. For some time, they forget that they are member of family, they have caste, nationality to feel and so on. They play with gods and goddesses. They walk along with deities. They provide heavenly atmosphere to the place and the time.

The audiences are not only Newars. But many believe that without discussing Indra

Jatra, one cannot discuss about Newars’ arts and cultures. Daniel Wright in writes- “The Newars constitute the largest section of the inhabitants of the valley, but are not numerous beyond its limits” (26). Historians regard Newars as the original inhabitants of the

Kathmandu Valley. But there are so many things, which we do not know much about the civilization of the Kathmandu Valley. What we can say about the Newars is that they speak a

Tibeto-Burmese language. They are supposed to have originated in the east, but their physical features range from distinctively Mongoloid, again suggesting to east, to Indo- Aryan, which of course points to India. It seems most like that Kathmandu valley has long been a cultural and racial melting pot, with people coming from both east and west. This fusion has resulted in the unique Newari culture that is responsible for the valley's superb art and architecture.

The Newar golden age peaked in the 17th century when the valley consisted of small city- 12 states, and Nepal was a vitally important trading link between Tibet and the north Indian plains, the valley's visible history is inextricably entangled with the Malla Kings. When one walks around Kathmandu, especially in the area now known as Hanumandhoka Durbar

Square, one comes across the canvas of the civilization that has come to settle down in this

Valley.

It is not that Indra Jatra is the only festival that the Newars come to participate and feel the cosmic part of human life. It is believed that the Newar traditions and culture areas vast as ocean. Newari culture is very rich in pageantry and ritual throughout the year. Many festivals are tied to Hindu holidays, Buddha's birth and harvest cycle. Newars have unique living life style. From the birth of child to the death of the man there are several ritual customs family gatherings, which are very unique. The way of living and the celebration of different festivals which binds the Newar peoples with each other. Street celebrations include pageants, jatras or processions in which a palanquin or portable shrine is paraded through the streets and sacred masked dances. Other festivals are marked by family feasts and worship.

The celebrations of festivals are held according to the lunar calendar, so the dates are changeable. The way of organizing the festivals and jatras of the Newars is perfect and praiseworthy. They spend a good part of their time to organize and perform these festivals.

Not only in Kathmandu valley but also wherever the Newars have moved and settled, they managed to observe their regular feasts and festivals, rituals and traditions. The annual festival and procession (jatra) of the most important deity of the particular place celebrate with great joy. Newars, it is believed that they do not see much difference between gods and their ancestors. Gods and goddesses can be met during jatras and other cultural occasions.

Needless to mention, Newari culture flourished during the Malla period. Scholars agree on the fact that most feasts, fasts, festivals and procession of gods and goddesses celebrated in present day Nepal date since the Mall period some of them even date from the 13

Thakuri period and the Licchavi period. Depending on the nature of the celebrations, Newari festival, rituals can be classified in various categories. Some festivals are only celebrated by

Newars, within Newars community also differ as they are Aryan and non-Aryan and also of religion-Hindus and Buddhists. Other festivals are celebrated through out the country with equal enthusiasm and joy. Most other festivals can be considered as characteristic of the

Newar,because during such festivals no other ethnic groups of Nepal directly participate.

Even in case they celebrate them, their way of doing so is significantly different from the

Newar way.

Religion, culture, festivals and jatras are highly significant in Newari society. Most

Newars seem to be performing ritual acts every day, and most festivities have overt religious elements. The religious acts vary from the observance of rituals, which last several days to minor ritual acts, such as, folding the palms every time one passes a certain deity. In

Kathmandu, the biggest street festival is Yanya Punhi (Indra Jatra) when three cars bearing the living goddess Kumari and two other child deities are pulled through the streets and masked dance performances are held.

Indradhojthapan or the Flag hoisting ceremony at Hanuman Dhoka, Kathmandu heralds the week long celebration of Indra Jatra festival. The celebration of Indradhojthapan dates back to the Vedic Era (1200-500 B.C.). It is celebrated in commemoration of the victory of Indra over the demons. The describes Indra as the war God and the

Weather –God. Indradhojthapan was continued in the Pauranic Era, i.e. the Era that follows the Vedic Era. The VarhatSamhita describes an interesting story about Indra and his battle with the demons. This is described by Varahamihra, the astrologer of 6th century. According to it, once the demons caused great trouble to the Gods. Gods were unable to defend themselves. They appealed , the creator. However, Brahma asked them to go to

Vishnu, the preserver. Vishnu took mercy on them and gave Indra, commander of their army 14 a flag (dhoj) that ensured victory. The jubilant Indra pledged that who celebrates

Indradhojthapan to commemorate his victory over the demons would have no fear from the enemies. Their kingdom will also prosper. Dor Bahadur Bista in his book People of Nepal writes:

The largest public festival in Kathmandu is Indra Jatra, which lasts for eight

days in mid-Bhadra, usually coinciding with the end of September of the first

week in October. At this time the people worship Indra, the God of rain, and a

number of religious dances are performed by artists wearing most colourful

dresses and head dresses representing various deities. The parade carts

carrying Kumari, the living goddess, and Ganesh and Bhairav, represented by

a Bare girl and two Bare boys respectively, through the streets of Kathmandu

city. (27)

The Indra Jatra celebration is declared open on the 12th day of the bright fortnight in Bhadra by erecting a ceremonial pole bearing Indra's flag in front of the old palace of Hanumana

Dhoka in Kathmandu. This festival is full of different dances in different forms. The dancers wear different dresses to perform the dances. The chariot of Kumari is taken along the street with the chariot of Ganesh and Bhairav.

Indra Jatra is the festival to remember Lord Indra, the king of heaven, and the god of rain. According to Gerard Toffin in his essay “ The Indra Jatra of Kathmandu as a Royal

Festival: Past and Present”. “As it is performed today, Indra Jatra us two fold . On the one hand, it enhances Nepalese monarch.On the other hand it keeps alive glorious past( i.e. Malla period” (75). Thus celebrating Indra Jatra, the ruler of the nation renew the power for more one year. Today also people celebrate Indra Jatra with its change to keep on tradition. In

Newari culture, this festival is also called YanyaPunhi. Indra Jatra also marks the beginning of Dashain and Tihar festivals. During Lichhavi period celebration included- a) display of a 15 life size idol of Indra b) Mother of Indra Dakine searching him c) Offering wick lamps on clay-Upaku-Wonegu. d) white elephant (Tara-Kishi) going around in search of his master.A life size idol of Indra with outstretched arms bound by raw cotton yarn is put up for a public display on a wooden platform at Maru tole. This is the Lichhavi tradition that continues even today.

Painting of Indra

According to Rajendra Pradhan, the Buddhist version of the myth gives more prominence to Indra’s mother and it also explains the origin of the ritual of following the

Dagi around the inner festival route of the city. In this version, Indra’s mother came to

Kathmandu disguised as a demons to search for him. When she found him in the palace 16 bound up like a thief, she promised to ensure mist and dew for the winter crops in exchange for his release. She also promised to lead the inhabitants of Kathmandu to heaven to meet their deceased relatives. So, on this occasion family members of deceased people in a year follow in her footprints in the hope of going heaven, and finding the souls of their deceased loved ones. All of them reach Indra daha (pond) where they take a holy dip in preparation for their journey to heaven. Next activities during Indra Jatra is to offer wick lamps on clay dishes in the name of family members died in a year, on the way going around the town of that time. People observe this tradition even today. Therefore, the people believe that the main purpose of celebrating Indra Jatra, at the time of Lichhivi, was to make special offerings to the souls of deceased loved ones before observing a big festival called Dashain.

The tradition of Pulu-Kishi going around in search of his master is also continued even today. There is a place called Kishi-gaa literally means an elephant stall, in the old

Kathmandu town. People believe that Indra left his elephant on which he rode down to earth, in this area, and then went around in search of the flower, Parijat. People in this area paint a white elephant on a mat, and two men in it, form an elephant, and go around the town dancing under the music of a single bell. This is Tana-Kishi that goes around in search of

Indra.

As mentioned by D. Wright in the book History of Nepal, the four days long Indra

Jatra became an eight days long festival since the Shah rule. Gorkha king Prithivi Narayan

Shah succeeded to take the power from the unfortunate last Malla king Jaya Prakash Malla but the people did not accept him as their king, and did not permit him to receive the blessing from the Living Goddess Kumari that was mandatory for any ruler. The negotiations went on for four days and at the end of the fourth day, Prithivi Narayan Shah received the "Tika" from the Living Goddess Kumari and became the legitimate king. Historian Daniel Wright in

History of Nepal writes- “PrithiviNarayan Shah asked Jaya Prakash Malla what he intended 17 to do. He replied that, by the favour of God, he had ruled the country for a long time, enjoyed royalty, and built many monuments” (257). Even after Prithivi Narayan Shah got the mandate form Kumari, he discussed with Jaya Prakash Malla. This last addition has been the tradition of hoisting a flag called Indradhoj on a tall wooden pole on the first day of the Indra Jatra and leaves it fluttering for eight days until the festivals ends. The popular belief is that flying an

Indra's flag once a year will stop all evil spirit entering the kingdom, and any external power from taking over the kingdom. Celebration of Indra Jatra is completely different than other festivals celebrated in Nepal. Name is given as Indra Jatra but during its celebration different other festivals appear. In this context, Gopal Singh Nepali in his book The Newars he claims:

Indra Jatra is however not one festivals, but appears to consist of two different

festivals- I honour of Indra and the other in honour of and Kumari,

which are intermitted. Indra Jatra is inaugurated with the erection of a big

linga on the foreground of Hanuman Dhoka, the place of the former Newars

king. It may be recalled that in Bhatgaon, the creation of linga is connected

with the festival of Pachali Bhairava.(359)

Indra Jatra consists of different festivals. During its celebration not only Indra honored but also Kumari and Bhairava. Nowadays, Indra Jatra is celebrated for eight days. On the first day of the festival, a long pole made of wood is set up in front of the Royal Palace located in

Hanuman Dhoka to appease Lord Indra. The third day marks the procession of girl goddess called Kumari. The people of Kathmandu consider her to be an embodiment of "Taleju" goddess. She travels to the royal place on a beautifully decorated chariot. The king of Nepal also worships this Kumari goddess during the Indra Jatra festival. The final day of the festival marks the lowering of the erected pole along with animal sacrifice, religious ceremonies and different rituals performed. For the last day of Indra Jatra the chariot procession of the Kumari Goddess will tour the city, accompanied by the dancers, musicians, 18 soldiers and excited mass. People line the roadside and fill windows and balconies to throw rice, red tika powder and small coins at the chariot.

Tantriks developed a special method of selecting a tree for a pole to be used for flying the Indra's flag. As mentioned in the book Hanumandhoka Rajadurbar of Gautam

Vajracharya-the eleventh day of the bright moon day of Bhadra, still today, is considered to be the correct time for the beginning of the festival –pole raising. On the first day of the

Indra Jatra, people of a special Newar clan in Kathmdndu pull up the pole with an Indradhoj on it, and let it flutter for a week. Indradhoj is a cosmic figure which saves and protects the people and the country form the assaults of other kings. If a pole with such a flag stands, nothing could harm the ruler and the people; this is what our people and rulers believed in.

Crowds gather outside Hanuman Dhoka at Kathmandu Durbar Square to watch, as hundreds of men join in to pull the thick ropes that bring the Indradhoj into position. At that moment,

Indra Jatra has begun masks of the wrathful Lord Bhairab and scared images of Indra and other deities are brought out of the temples and monasteries and placed on decorated platforms along the street, so the gods can watch the festival along with the town people.

Only during this festival the immense head of Lord Bhairab called "SwetaBhairab" (white

Bhairab) is also revealed which is otherwise kept covered throughout the year. Classical dancers also gather at the spot wearing different kinds of traditional attires. Thus, it is said that Indra jatra is not a festival but amalgam of different festivals. Bishnu Prasad Gurung writes:

On the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of the festival which is called the

main day of festival; Kumari the Living Goddess's chariot in rounded around

the main through fare of the city. Also two bachelor small boys from Shakya

Newari caste are kept on a separate chariot each; as a features of God Bhairab

and Ganesh; then they are also rounded along with the Kumari chariot. The 19

chariot procession starts only when the primeminister worships there by

offering some monetary donation (Dakchhina) and takes the prasad (oblation)

from there.[...] Many kinds of traditional mask dances are shown along with

the Kumari Jatra viz. Halchok's dances, 's Mahakali

dances, Kilangal's pulusiki dances are famous. (56)

One can see different manifest forms of cosmic figure during Indra Jatra. People act and perform different characters. Mask brings gods and goddesses in human forms. Chariots of

Kumari, Ganesh and Bhairav bring Prime minister, diplomats and commoners at the same place. They offer donation and takes Prasad (oblation). Indra Jatra probably is one of the most researched, documented and talked about festivals of the Kathmandu Valley. However, critics have not much looked into the cosmic part of the Jatra that gets manifested during performances. The researcher believes that Newars and other devotees by taking part in Indra

Jatra do not only become religious, they march and become part of the cosmos. The audiences and the devotees get cosmic height and breath. To articulate this issue further, the researcher explores what theorists, especially performance studies experts have to say on the cosmic consciousness that individual participant audience acquires by taking part in culturally and ritually important occasions such as Indra Jatra. 20

Chapter II: Performance, Cosmos and People

Performance

Cultural performance theory offers an approach for understanding culture within the activity of everyday life. It serves as a means to conceptualize culture by placing culture at the center of hegemonic or dominating, messages and revealing the hierarchical structure of society through lived experience. Performance is foundational to the study of human communication with cosmic figures-gods and goddess. Richard Schechner views performance as:

... Performances are make-believe, in play, for fun. Or, as Victor Turner said,

in the subjective mood, the famous "as if", or, as Sanskrit aesthetics would

have it, performances are lilas-sports, play-and , illusory. But the

Sanskrit tradition emphasizes, so is all life lila and maya performance is an

illusion and, as such, might be considered more "truthful, more "real" than

ordinary experiences. ( XIV)

Performance experience is not like the common experience of day to day life. It is something beyond that. Whatever performer performs will be based on reality and real events but completely different than common experiences. Different performance during the celebration of Indra Jatra also based on something believable. People have believed cosmic power so they perform. Different people have defined performance differently. For Huizinga performance is:

...It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be

gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space

according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of 21

social groupings that tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress

their difference from the common world by disguise or other means. (13)

Cultural and religious performers do not have any materialistic interest and hope for it.

Simply they perform in different manifested form of cosmic figures just to respect and show their role and importance. During cultural performance, performers cross the boundaries of time and space. At that time they are trans-human. Performers always use the wearing items about same cosmic figure about whom they are going to perform. They also imitate and act accordingly as if they are the real figure. As the audiences are present with cosmic figures, they also feel as if they have crossed the boundaries of time and space. So, this kind of performance visualizes the real figure even if they are absent. Furthermore Erving Goffman writes:

...The legitimate performances of everyday life are not "acted" or "put on" in

the sense that the performer knows in advance just what he is gong to do, and

does this solely because of the effect it is likely to have. The expressions it is

felt he is giving off will be especially "inaccessible" to him. But as in the case

of less legitimate performers, the incapacity of the ordinary individual to

formulate in advance the movements of his eyes and body does not mean that

he will not express himself through these devices in a way that is dramatized

and pre-formed in his repertoire of actions. In short, we all act better that we

know how. (73-4)

But unlike the everyday performances, the cultural performance offers its audiences the cosmic forces. It does not give the importance to the day to day activities. During the time performers will have some supernatural power which common human being may not have.

So that every people worship and respect such figure consider that they are the manifestation of real gods and goddesses. The body is the tool of primacy in religio-cultural performance. 22

Cosmic figure in religio-cultural performance is not something like supernatural elements.

Cosmic figure in physical form of human being can be seen during the performance of cosmic figure for which physical body of human being is needed. Production of the body- how it behaves, gestures, comports, contorts, prostrates, bends, twists-in conjunction with where these performances occur, foundationally, create religious meaning. David Chidester writes:

… discourses and practices that negotiate what it is to be human both in

relation to the superhuman and in relation to whatever might be treated as

subhuman. Since being a person also requires being in a place, religion entails

discourses and practices for created sacred space, as a zone of inclusion but

also as a boundary for excluding others. Accordingly, religion [...]is the

activity of being human in relation to superhuman transcendence and sacred

inclusion, which inevitably involves dehumanization and exclusion. (p. viii)

In religio-cultural performance, performers (human beings) would be different than normal.

At that time they are supposed to transcend from earthly man to superhuman beings which have the quality of cosmic figures (gods and goddess). In Indra Jatra festival, the persons who act and perform as Kumari, Ganesh, Bhairav, Pulu- Kishi elephant transcend to superhuman.

So, other people respect and worship them. Worshiping such cosmic figures, audiences also believe that they can reach to the position of such Gods and Goddesses. In his essay Marvin

Carlson writes:

The recognition that our lives are structured according to repeated and socially

sanctioned modes of behavior raises the possibility that all human activity

could potentially be considered as "performance," or at least all activity

carried out with a consciousness of itself. The difference between doing and

performing, according to this way of thinking, would seem to be not in the 23

frame of theatre versus real life but in an attitude-we may do actions,

unthinkingly, but when we think about them, this introduces a consciousness

that gives them the quality of performance. (49)

As a human being, a person can act many social, cultural and religious activities. Some action may be the different from self others may not. The performers perform the action completely different than real life. They perform as if they are not the human beings, they are superior to them. They have different quality which ordinary human beings do not have. The performers act and perform different attitudes and behaviors than human beings more real cosmic figure they become. In the celebration of Indra Jatra also Kumari, Ganesh, Bhairav, Pulu Kishi,

Lakhe perform vividly so that they become real figure. Cultural performance communicates the content of culture through orchestrations of cultural media. Turner argues that cultural performances are composed of "sensory codes" that enlist all of the senses: "All the senses of participants and performers may be engaged; they hear music and prayers , see visual symbols, taste consecrated foods, smell incense, and touch sacred persons and objects (158)”.

In his essay "Performance" Deborah Kapchan views performance as:

Performances are aesthetic practice-patterns of behavior, ways of speaking,

manners of bodily comportment –whose repetitions situate actors in time and

space, structuring individual and group identities. In so far as performances

are based upon repetitions, whether lines learned, gestures imitated, or

discourses reiterated, they are the generic mans of tradition making. (479)

Performances are constitutive of culture, not something added to culture; performances are epistemic, the way cultural members know and enact the possibilities in their worlds; and performances are critical lenses for looking at and reshaping cultural forms. Performance is full of gestures and imitations. Performers do not perform about the self; they perform as if 24 they are trance human. According to Turner (1988,23-24), cultural performance are capable of carrying many messages at once- they are capable of subverting on one level what another level seems to be saying, and the full "reality" of meaning and messages is only attained through the performance. Cultural performances are not just mirrors, according to Victor and

Edie Turner, but active agents of change. As reflexive, cultural performances provide moments to enact, comment on, critique, and evaluate the norms and values of a culture.

Turners describes :

…The actors commonly share world-view, a kinship network, economic

interests, a local past, and a system of ritual replete with symbolic objects and

actions which embody a cosmology. They have lived through hard times and

good times together. Culture, social experience, and individual psychology

combine in complex ways in any “bit” or “strip” of human social behavior.

(33)

Cultural performances are always reflective and reflexive, offering opportunities to confirm and transform values, structures, dramas, and institutions. This kind of performance reflects the existing socio-cultural values and practices. Symbolic actions, activities, customs used during Indra Jatra make the characters and audiences to have the experiences of cosmic figures. Mixture of social, cultural and religious norms, individual psychology can be found during the cosmic performance of Indra Jatra. Generally, cultural performances consist of five components –a limited time span (a beginning, middle, and end), an organized program of activity, a set of performers, an audiences and a place and occasion of performance. The cultural stage is the place where the performance occurs-in homes, temples, public halls, and community centers. Travelling performances, without a fixed institutional base, are often difficult to pin down, as they create their stages in and through the performance. About the performance Goffman writes: 25

....the entranced person will be able to provide a correct portrayal of the god

that has entered him [because of all the contextual knowledge and memories

available; that] the person possessed will be in just the right social relation to

those who are watching; that possession occurs at just the right moment in the

ceremonial undertaking, the possessed one carrying out his ritual obligations

to the point of participating in a king of skit with persons possessed at the time

with other spirits. (74)

During cosmic performance, a performer provides the real picture of the cosmic figure. These cosmic figure try to establish the relation to the society and human beings. The same ritual performance repeats every year. This is a moment when own physical body but has other spirits which helps to be superhuman and trance human.

Incarnate refers especially to that which is endowed with a human or animal body and it is in this sense that the term is used here. It literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature that is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial. In its religious context the word is used to mean the descent from Heaven of a god, or divine being in human/animal form on Earth. However, the term incarnation is also used in the Asain context to refer to a birth or rebirth in a form that is kept for a single lifetime. Here, words like incarnation, manifestation avatar have not used to indicate supernatural figures. For example, prior to his rebirth as the young prince Siddhartha, Sakyamuni Buddha was incarnated in various animal forms, such as a monkey king, during numerous lifetimes. The stories of his former lives are referred to as the Jataka tales. Different religion defines the word Incarnation differently. According to Donald in Westminster dictionary of theological terms: 26

The Incarnation is a fundamental theological teaching of orthodox (Nicene)

Christianity, based on its understanding of the New Testament. The

Incarnation represents the belief that Jesus, who is the non-created

second hypostasis of the triune God, took on a human body and nature and

became both man and God. (140)

Especially, the word incarnation refers to the form of the God in different form of the creatures.Many performance during Indra Jatra has some connotation with cosmic image or power. The goddess Kumari manifests in the body of a young girl that like a vessel, receives the essence of the deity. Other incarnate performance is the image of Ganesh and Bhairav.

Moreover, mask dances during Indra Jatra refers to the image of demon who came on earth in search of Indra. Indra Jatra used to call royal festival in which king is the main person which is also considered as manifestation of Lord .

The worship of human beings who are viewed as holy or as manifestations of various spiritual beings is common in Hinduism or Buddhism. The idea of a god involving himself in the affairs of men by coming to the earth is not a novel one. In the Greek culture of New

Testament times there were numerous instances in which the gods were said to have manifested themselves in human flesh. In our own times there are numerous examples of

"super-beings" who have intervened in human history. Incarnation is not just a debate about something which took place 2,000 years ago in history. The issues at hand in the incarnation of our lords are matters of principle which have very practical ramifications. The broader issue of the incarnation is the relationship between the divine and the human, between the sovereign working of God and the human responsibility of man. In "American Poetry

Review" Ruth Stone writes:

Incarnation is an empty glass. 27

Meat is the measure

But every day Belshazzar

makes strange markings in the dust.

Every night her bed sinks into the earth.

Every day she cooks and eats

and then, washes the dirty dishes.(2)

Incarnation is compared with glass from which we view everything clearly. Similarly, in the incarnate form in jatras and festivals we view the image of gods and goddess. The manifestation of God is a concept in the Bahai faith that refers to what are commonly called prophets. The manifestations of god as a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization. The manifestations of god are the only channel for humanity to know about god and they act as perfect mirrors reflecting the attributes of god into the physical world. The

Bahai concept of a manifestation of god emphasizes the simultaneously existing qualities of humanity and divinity. In the station of divinity, they show forth the will, knowledge and attributes of God; in the station of humanity, they show the physical qualities of common man. In a sense, manifestations of god act as pure mirrors that reflect the attributes of god onto this material world. The manifestations of god possess capacities that do not exit in humans, and this difference is not a difference in degree but a difference in kind. The manifestations of god are not seen to be simply great thinkers or philosophers who have a better understanding than others by their nature; they are inherently superior to the average human. Thus, the manifestations of god are special beings, having a unique relationship to gods as they have been sent by god from the spiritual world as an instrument of divine revelation. They are understood to have existed in the spiritual world prior to their physical 28 birth in this life. They are also seen to have innate, divinely revealed knowledge and absolute knowledge of the physical world. Asiatic prophets, Shoghi Effendi writes:

The only reason there is not more mention of the Asiatic prophets is because

their names seem to be lost in the mists of ancient history. Buddha is

mentioned and Aoroaster in our scriptures-both non-Jewish prophets and non-

semiotic prophets. We are taught there always have been manifestations of

god, but we do not have any record of their names. (503)

All the information about gods and goddess are known today only by hearsay and written in inscription. And to get the written documents about gods and goddess is impossible. The purpose of the manifestation of God, according to Bhahai belief is to educate humanity. The manifestations of god are seen as divine educators, who are raised up by god with the purpose of uplifting mankind and expressing his will. In expressing God’s intent, the manifestations of god are seen to establish religion in the world. The Bahai belief that the primary role of the manifestation of god is that of an educator is stated by Bahaullan and Abdul Baha:

The Prophets and Messenger of god have been sent down for the sole purpose

of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose underlying their

revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of death,

ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute detachment, to the

throne of the Most High.[…] Through them the clouds rain their bounty upon

men, and the earth bring forth its fruits. All things must have a cause, a

motive power, an animating principle. These souls and symbols of detachment

have provided, and will continue to provide, the supreme moving impulse in

the world of being. (156-57). 29

The main purpose of Gods and Goddesses is to show the right way and the path of truth to the human being. People have faith on Gods and Goddess. So, they go to temple to temple and celebrate different cultural cosmic rituals and pray to the Gods for their blessing. All of these have some reasons behind why people worship to human beings incarnate forms of different

Gods and Goddess.

Cosmic Rituals and Festivals

Festival is discussed here as a cultural performance which is scheduled, temporally and spatially bounded, programmed, characterized by occasions and heightened occasions of aesthetic expression as Stoeltje said in his book Festival. Folklore, Cultural and

Performances and Popular Entertainments. A festival provides opportunities to observe the communicative system of the culture, conveyed through semantically complex performance events. Although a festival enfolds large-scale social units, there obviously occurs small-scale social interactional communication, performance which constitutes face-to-face interaction.

This part of the thesis attempts to describe festival and ritual prepare a communicative scenery for manifestations of ethnicity and cultural unity with the special objective to demonstrate and experience a particular identity. According to Beverly J. Stoeltje’s book

Festival. Folklore, Cultural and Performances and Popular Entertainments, festivals occur at calendrically regulated intervals, are public in nature, participatory in ethos, complex in structure, and multiple in voice, scene, and purpose. Festivals are collective phenomena and serve purposes rooted in group life. A festival performance serves the purpose of the articulation of the group's heritage; it is a communicative situation actively engaging participants, presenting a combination of participation and performance in a public context.

Motivation for participation in festivals includes social interaction that allows for the exploration and negotiation of many kinds of relationships. Activities available in a given festival reflect the concerns of the community, thus providing scenery for expressing 30 particular ethnicity while suggesting personal affirmation, political action, and social revitalization. Festival facilitates regeneration and enacts social life; it strengthens the identity of the group and its power to act in its own interest. It contributes to the articulation of social issues. The message of festival concerns the shared experience of the group and multiple interpretations of that experience. Festival brings the group together and communicates about the society itself and the role of the individual in it. In the context of modernity there are two other concepts closely related to festival, these are ritual and spectacle.

Rappaport in his book A Ritual, Folklore, Cultural Performance and Popular

Entertainments defines ritual as-“Ritual is defined as the performance of more or less invariant sequences of formal acts and utterances not encoded by the performers “(249).

Ritual is usually regarded as a mode of communication associated with the concerns and practice of religion, but relevant symbolic enactment occur outside religious contexts. Ritual is natural to human beings and plays an essential role in building personal and cultural identity. Ordinary family rituals are often given added meaning by overlaying them with forms of religious ritual, so placing the large and small events of life within a cosmic framework. Ritual gives shape to emotions and helps humans come to terms with the major events of life. Religious ritual has generally been seen as indispensable in deepening spiritual insight. The repetition of rituals instills religious values and attitudes in the lives of the worshippers. Ritual also expresses and emphasizes the things that bind a faith community together, and through ritual both individuals and communities make visible their most basic religious needs, values and aspirations.

In all religions the major events marking the cycle of life are given prominence and marked through ritual: birth, growth to adulthood, marriage and death. Seasons of the year are also marked through harvest thanksgiving, the blessing of the fleet, or rituals related to 31 winter and summer solstice. Other events not connected to the natural cycle, but observed through annual rituals connected with religious beliefs. In this context, Victor Turner sees the ritual as it has been the most important human activities. Closely examining traditional and indigenous cultures, it can be found that human life has primarily a ritual or set of sacred actions. Through the world, there has existed an ancient and ongoing tradition of sacred action performed with the aim of improving not only our condition in the universe, but the condition of the universe itself. But, today, people have rejected the ritual considering that it is irrational, superstitious and primitive. But the change to some extent should be taken positively. Because it is only after some changes the performance would be attractive and interesting. Henry Bial in “Performitivity” and “Ritual” focuses:

Rituals are performances that provide structure and continuity to our lives.

They are the means of ordering the world to fit our perception. We perform

rituals to mark the passage of time (harvest festivals, birthday parties), to

transform our social status (wedding, graduations) , or to ensure good fortune

(blessings, certain prayers). In this way, rituals provide us with a sense of

control over our an uncertain existence. Rituals are based on repetition, and

though most rituals change somewhat overtime. (87)

Rituals and traditions are medium to study about past. This is also the signal of changing time. There is a revival of interest in ritual today that is part of our culture’s reexamination of mythology. In the academic world, ritual is now viewed as an art form or a means of social bonding, not merely a curious superstition. It is also believed that ritual is the way from which human being can link with cosmic and supernatural power and reach to the god and goddess. Ritual has special significance for the collective life, for the benefit of society as a whole. Collective rituals help clear the collective mental field of its negative 32

Karma, and help create peace and harmony in society, preventing war and other social disorders. The performance of ritual creates a theatrical-like frame around the activities, symbols and events that shape participant's experience and cognitive ordering for the world.

Simplifying the chaos of life and imposing a more or less coherent system of categories of meaning onto it. As Barbara Myerhoff put it, "not only is seeing believing, doing is believing" (223).

In fact, all our actions have a ritualistic orientation, because action tends toward repetition and reinforcement, projecting a particular energy to link us with certain forces in the world in which we live. Ritual provides a way to deal with our subtle, or psychic, environment, which consists of the various mental and emotional forces which energize our lives. But these forces are invisible. If the environment is clean, then people be healthy.

People go to the doctor for treatment of the body. But even the doctors can not treat completely human psyche and mind. But, people believe the some cosmic rituals can cure these problems. So, ritual or religious performance is important. Most of people have been considered as demons, ghosts or sin in traditional cultures are negative energy patterns. They are alike with bacteria and viruses which attack the people on a physical body. As cleaning our physical environment helps eliminate such toxins, so clearing our psychic environment does the same thing on its level. True ritual acts in harmony with the rhythms of the universe, uniting us with the great current of time and transformation leading to the eternal. True ritual gives a universal meaning to all that we do and to all with whom we come in contact, including all of nature. It requires being cognizant of the divine presence in the world and the cosmic power and interplay of all the forces in our lives. In this sense Johnson says: ” Ritual is the vehicle by which religions of structures achieve...[the] integration [and] transformation of one's perception of an ordinary object or person from a literal, personal, or social mode to a symbolic and transcendental one” (8). It is believed through performing cosmic ritual 33 human being can transcend to the world of Gods and Goddess. So, it is also considered as vehicle for it. Rituals help to know the past and establish peace and order in the society, country and even in the world. The household is the relevant social unit in domestic rituals whereas cosmic rituals are different than it. Human beings act in different categories of supernatural being, such as gods, goddesses and evil spirits in cosmic rituals. In fact, they are performed firstly for the benefit of the whole community, village, locality, city, or event the whole country. Unlike in domestic rituals, whole community participates in cosmic ritual.

These rituals are celebrated in public places such as temples, palaces, streets, and crossroads.

In some festivals, are worshipped in their temples located in different parts of the city.

In other festivals, rituals are performed on the main crossroads of the city to drive away evil sprits. According to Evan Zesusse in the book Ritual Cosmos: The Sanctification of Life in

African Religions, African religious rituals involve the "Sanctification of everyday life" and embody the three spheres of human life that must but integrated together- "the personal egoistic sphere, the social sphere, and the transcendental cosmic sphere" (14). For simplicity's sake, the range of diverse rituals can be divided into categories with common characteristics.

Among them Calendrical and commemorative rites is one. Calendrical and commemorative rites are ritual events marking particular times of year, or a fixed period since an important event. Calendrical rituals give social meaning to the passage of time, creating repetitive weekly, monthly or yearly cycle. Some rites are oriented towards seasonal changes, and may be fixed by the solar or lunar calendar. Those fixed by the solar calendar fall on the same day each year. Calendrical rites impose a cultural order on nature. Mircea Eliade in his book The

Myth of Eternal Return on Cosmos and History states that” the calendrical rituals of many religious traditions recall and commemorate the basic beliefs of a community, and their yearly celebration establishes a link between past and present, as if the original events are happening over again” (21). Thus the gods did; thus men do. Celebration of Indra Jatra every 34 year establishes relation between present and past. It also recalls cultural beliefs and helps to continue it. The definition that comes closest to reflecting the cosmic rituals discussed in the article by Evan Zeusse in The Encyclopedia of Religion. It views ritual as:

[...] intentional body engagement in the paradigmatic forms and relationships

of reality. As such, ritual brings not only the body but also that body's social

and cultural identity to the encounter with the transcendental realm. By

conforming to models or paradigms that refer to the primordial past and that

can be shared by many people, ritual also enables each person to transcend the

individual self, and this it can link many people together into enduring and

true forms of community. As a result, ritual draws into itself every aspect of

human life. (406)

Ritual has many values to the individual. With the help of cosmic performance, they believe, they reach to the Gods and Goddess. So, even if it is painful, problematic performance, people celebrate with great interest and enthusiasm. Celebration of rituals is also the identity of the particular society. Rituals help the devotees to transcend. The collective nature of cosmic rituals is best expressed by the role of the king in various festivals and jatras. He represents his subjects just as the male head of the household represents the members of his household. Since the king is responsible for maintaining social and cosmic order, he is the chief patron of cosmic rituals. Moreover, both spatially and temporarily, cosmic rituals are oriented to the palace which is the centre of the city.

As Rajendra Pradhan clarifies the major opposition in cosmic rituals is between the positive and the negative poles of the sacred. Durkheim discussing the nature of the sacred, argued that religious forces are of two kinds: first, pure, beneficent forces which are the guardians of the physical and moral orders and givers of life and health. Second, the evil 35 impure powers which creates disorders and the cause of sickness and death. Unlike

Burkheim, for Hertz , the two poles of the sacred are absolutely opposed and asymmetrically related, as in the relations between gods and demons, right and left, male and female.

The Newars of Kathmandu valley believe that the cosmic figures may have two poles, as I mentioned earlier, -benevolent and demonic. To balance these two opposite poles of cosmic figure, people worship cosmic figure in different cosmic rituals and festivals. Four categories of supernatural beings are considered dangerous or evils by the Newars. They are-

(a) gods and goddess (b) demons (c) spirits of those who have dies bad deaths, and (d) a heterogeneous group of evil beings such as witches and kichkanni (a kind of succubus).

The gods and goddess have dual aspects: on one hand, they are considered as the creator of problems and diseases. On the other hand, they protect their devotees from such diseases and other dangers. These deities are also worshipped to remove various kinds of distress and to gain power and knowledge to defeat evil spirits. The deities which are associated with death, disease and destruction are mainly the localized versions of the mother goddesses. The most well known among these are the eight mother goddesses (astamatrikas) who are the external and fierce manifestations of the goddess. The negative aspect of the sacred is also associated with gods. Lord Shiva and his various manifestations, especially as

Bhairava and "hiding siva" (lukumahadyo) , are equally fierce and dangerous. Siva, especially as Bharirava, is the lord of evil spirits.

On the other hand, the various categories of demons (next cosmic figure) are the eternal enemies of gods and mankind because they cause death, disease and misfortune and also threaten social and cosmic order. These demonic figures can be seen during different festivals and jatras. Newars use different masks to associate them with demonic cosmic figures. It is considered that Majipat Lakhey performed during Indra Jatra is the main Lakhey 36 of Kathmandu. Here, the figure of "Lakhey" is demonic and opposite to gods. In one version of the story, he descended from heaven because he began to eat his devotees. The gods told him to go to the land of the people (mrtyanmandala) because they were scared that he would eat all their devotees and they would have no one to worship them. He went to Kathmandu and , alter, reformed himself. In one of the stories, he fights with Akas(Halcok) Bhairava who defended the children of the king who ate human beings. While the daityas and danavas

(demonic cosmic figure) fight with the gods and disturb the social and cosmic order, the raksasas trouble human beings and disturb the social order. The word" raksa sas" is closed to human beings and to the spirits of the deceased who trouble mankind but not gods. There is a whole host of supernatural beings who are spirits of the deceased, often of those who have died bad deaths or did not have proper mortuary rituals performed for them. These spirits attack human beings, often killing them or causing illness which only healers can cure.

During festivals these kinds of cosmic figures are represented by the mask. During the celebration of Indra Jatra that types of cosmic figure also can be seen in the street.

This chapter gives the overview of the ideas and words that I have used in this dissertation. Moreover, it also shows how the cultural performance is a means to reach to the god and goddesses i.e. cosmic world. Similarly, it proves that gods and human beings are co- related with each other and gods help to us whenever there is problem in the earth. The gods visit the earth from time to time in different manifested and incarnative form if the problems occur. Through performing cosmic ritual, audiences will have power, encouragement and see the gods and goddess as they are. It also helps the audience to have the sense of trans-human.

In the next chapter, I am going to describe what sorts of cosmic performance during Indra

Jatra can be seen and how the audiences perceive them. 37

Chapter III: Cosmic Performance in Indra Jatra

Kumari Jatra

It is argued that the Malla King, Jaya Prakesh Malla set the tradition of pulling the chariots to Living Goddess Kumari, living God Batuk Bhairav and Living God Ganesh to both the north and south ends of the Kathmandu town. He also set the tradition of distributing

"shamhya-baji"blessings of Goddess Kumari at Jaisidewal on the first day of the chariot pulling festival, and at Hanumandhoka on the second day. Jaya Prakash Malla set the tradition of the chariot-pulling festival called Kumari Jatra in honor of Living Goddess

Kumari fulfilling his pledge made to the Goddess if he would get back the kingdom. On the day before the full moon i.e. the third day of the festival, government officials, foreign dignitaries, military bands masked dancers and masses of people gather in Durbar Square for the procession of the Living Goddess Kumari. The beautiful little goddess-child is carried from her palace, dresses in jewels and blood-red silk and placed in a grand chariot. Allen in the book The Cult of Kumari: Virgin Worship in Nepal writes-“…some of these characteristics include dark hair, dark eyes, well-proportioned feet and hands, broad shoulders and a narrow waist, long arms, and a beautiful, lustrous complexion” (105). The young girls having these characteristics eventually become Kumari are chosen from either the

Sakya or castes of the Newar community. Masks and statues representing

Vishnu, Bhairav, and Shiva are shown to the public and the Goddess Kumari witnesses the special occasion from her chariot. Two children representing Bhairab and the elephant-god

Ganesh follow and enter smaller chariots behind. The procession pauses before the balcony of the old palace and all the VIPs including the head of the state emerge, to the joy of the crowd. 38

Nowadays, Kumari Jatra has become the chief attraction of Indra Jatra. Worshipping of the female deities has been practiced since long in some religions. In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, Asia minor and middle East, mother Goddess were worshipped and fertility cult was also greatly emphasized. In the Indian sub-continent also, the female principle was highly recognized and significance of the female principle was greatly stressed. In , or Devi is worshipped as the topmost of all the deities.

The principle has two forms of deities: a) benevolent and (b) fearful. In the benevolent form

Devi, , and are worshipped while in the wrathful form, ,

Durga, Taleju, are worshipped.

Even though name is Indra Jatra, many people think that it is not Indra Jatra rather it is Kumari Jatra. Kumari is the realism of abstract practice of worshipping a pre-pubescent girl or virgin in the most profound way of defining culture. The strong image, beautiful ornaments and the flashy red color, portrays her image where she stands as a powerful symbol of unity, prosperity, peace and health. Literally meaning the virgin, the Kumari represents a strong symbol of power and culture enslaved in the rich colors of festivity which manifests a variation of tradition in the from of goddess as a Kumari. Hemanta Kumar Jha in his book Hindu-Buddhist festival of Nepal shows the importance of Kumari Jatra. He says:

The festival of Indra Jatra becomes more poignant as the chariot procession of

"Kumari", the virgin goddess is also associated with the Jatra. This specialty

on the Indra Jatra day was added by Jay Prakash Malla, one of the Malla kings

who reigned medieval Nepal. Along the Kumari chariot, the chariots of

Bhairab and Ganesh are also associated with Indra Jatra. (40)

The celebration of Indra Jatra from very beginning has changed from time to time.

Previously, it was celebrated for four days but now it has become eight days long. Chariot 39 procession during Indra Jatra is special day and has great importance. Some people at present are known Indra Jatra as Kumari Jatra . It is necessary to make offerings to Goddess Kumari at the end of any auspicious offerings made to any deity. If we do not perform offerings to

Goddess Kumari, other deities would not accept our offerings, and our offerings to other deities go astray. The Living Goddess Kumari is the symbol of religious harmony in Nepal.

The Living Goddess Kumari herself is from the Shakya clan of the Newar Buddhists. They are responsible for taking care of the Living Goddess Kumari whereas a Hindu Tantric priest called Karmacharya performs daily regular offerings to the Living Goddess Kumari. This has harmonized Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal.

The Kathmandu Kumari is the most well known and popular manifestation of the goddess Kumari. The religious practices related with Kumari have focused on three phenomenon-(a) goddess manifesting in human form or her status as a "living" deity, (b)the virginity of the girls selected to serve as Kumari.Kumari worship has often been attributed to the child's virginal status and (c) Kumari's role in giving power to Nepali ruler, to the kings in the past. Michael Allen on Kumari Cult describes the Kumari cult as a “most notable and perhaps unique nature of the religion” (1) The young girl continues to be worshipped by lay devotees and members of the priestly caste as Kumari until she no longer is considered appropriate to be the goddess. The reasons cited for a young girl to step down from her role as Kumari vary. According to Allen, any type of bleeding, including bleeding from the loss of a tooth or menstruation, an incurable illness, or a permanent blemish is just cause to choose another young girl to serve as the body of the goddess. There are two major aspects of worshipping goddess Kumari that relate directly to the deity worship in Nepal and that are important in understanding the incarnate goddess in the context of image worship. The first concern is which is hospitality rituals consisting of the offering of food, flowers, clothes, and incense to the deity. This reflects the hospitality extended on the part of the devotee 40 towards the deity. The next aspect is the concept of darsan means “seeing”. However, it connotes and has values more than simply looking at the deity. According to Diana Eck,

“[t]he central act of Hindu worship, from the point of view of the la person, is to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one’s own eyes, to see and to be seen by the deity”(3). The concept of darsan is the notion that the deity chooses to reside in the body of image, presenting itself to be seen for the benefit of the devotees. The image made of metal, stone, clay and other materials are understood to be alive, just as the incarnate goddess is “living”.

Living Goddesses Kumari on her throne 41

People worship Kumari with great enthusiasm thinking that it is an incarnation of

Goddess “Taleju Bhawani” . The incarnate manifestations of Kumari closely resemble the

“living,” but inanimate, images worshiped throughout the Kathmandu valley. The virgin goddess is regarded as the personification of Taleju and is, therefore, worshipped by the King as well as his noblemen. The King also worships her on Indra Jatra day. It signifies syncretism of both Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal. The King, regarded an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, is consecrated by Living Goddess from a Buddhist family.

The establishment of the Taleju cult is important because each of the principal living

Kumaris in the three cities of Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and Patan are still today regarded as living manifestations of Taleju Bhavani. Personified figure of Gods and Goddess perform in

Indra Jatra. The people of Kathmandu consider Kumari to be an embodiment of “Taleju” goddess. During Indra Jatra cosmic figures and performance can be seen in human forms.

David Gelner in the book Monk Householder, Tantric Priest: and its

Hierarchy of Ritual states, “Kumari as a deity is not limited to the well-known living goddess[…]these girls are simply human manifestations of much wider cult” (10).

Worshiping of human girls consider as incarnations of the goddess Kumari. These practices necessarily include the physical presence of the incarnate forms of Kumari. The goddess is usually invoked or present in a non-human form. Although the forms of the goddess vary, to the devotee they are merely different representations or manifestations of the supreme, universal Goddess, who is accessible through various forms. Allen views that Kumari is powerful because she is understood as a pure, undefiled virgin. The incarnate goddess is first and foremost a little girl whose primary, defining characteristic is her virginity. To clarify the power of Kumari Gerard Toffin in the essay " The Moiety System of The Newars" published in CNAS journal says- the Newars of Kathmandu valley believe that Kumari had given the king her mandate to rule the city. Newars do not accept the legitimacy of a ruler 42

(king) until the goddess gives mandate. The ruler (king) of the country has to renew the mandate annually from the goddess. This is done on the final day of Kumari Jatra. When

Kumari returns to her house from her chariot procession, the ruler enters her throne room to obtain “Tika” from her.

The virgin goddess Kumari is also projected in native literature related with politics.

Many myths hint that she can offer a kingship and extend dynastic ruling period. The identification of Kumari with Taleju had an important political aspect. To go across the political aspect of Kumari, it is necessary to be recalled here that during Malla period the royal family and many of the more powerful and higher castes were Hindus while the rest of the population were Buddhists. Given these facts, Allen is probably right in suggesting that

“the reappearance of Taleju in the form of a young Buddhist girl had the important political result of projecting the source of legitimacy outside the palace” (303). The ruler therefore celebrated the festival of Kumari annually because it is from her they derived their the power and legitimacy. This tradition continued to the present day. The ruler has to renew his mandate annually from the goddess on the last day of the festival. However, the king’s legitimacy is ultimately derived from Taleju, the chief goddess of the city since Kumari is one of her manifestations. King Jayaprakash Malla’s example suits as the Kumari enjoys the power to extend one’s dynamic ruling period. Mary Sluccer in has taken this case in this way:"by decree of Jayaprakash, the Indrajatra was the occasion in which the

Kumari annually reaffirmed the Kathmandu King’s mandate to rule the Kingdom" (76).

Though Kumari is worshipped as a female goddess for attaining merits for the next world a majority of the worshippers are women who suffer, especially from menstruation problems or want or welfare of their children.

As mentioned, it is believed that Kumari is the only Living Goddesses. The girl who is chosen as Kumari has real experience being cosmic figure. She has been dehumanized and 43 given the place of cosmic figure (Goddess of Power). Worshiping cosmic figure in natural world the audience also will have experience of being cosmic figure. Filled with women, some men and tourists, the terraces of the temples to the left and right of the Durbar Square looks like two bunches of flowers from a distance. Most of the women could be seen dressed in red and men are in other colors giving the view of flowers with different colors. They have sit there for hours for watching the Kumari Jatra. Many men, women and children come from out of the Kathmandu Valley to watch the Kumari Jatra in Kathmandu. They take the seats on the terraces of these temples at the Durbar Square. They see a normal girl being Goddess and worshipped by the people. So, in a sense, they do not see any difference between cosmic figures and themselves. At that time, they feel as if they have transcended to the other world

(world of Gods and Goddesses). They live experience of a child being a goddesses. These lively activities in front of them among big crowd at Humumandhoka help to have cosmic experience. Her worshippers (devotees) are of many categories. Few people worship her as a goddess without making any earthly wishes. Most worshippers are women who have menstrual problems of blood oozing. Others worshippers may be government employees who come with ambitions for promotion or have some job problems. A few devotees are of those categories who want to know the future as sometimes when Kumari is in a good mood she can show some signs which can be interpreted. During the celebration of Kumari Jatra, audiences see that an innocent girl like their daughter or sister being the goddesses and worshipped by the crowd. At that moment they see sacredness quality in the human beings.

Even the human beings have the godly qualities. So, they feel that they are not far from the cosmos, gods, goddess and divine figures. 44

Bhairav (God of Liquor)

God Bhairav

Bhairav (Terrible or Frightful in Sanskrit), sometimes known as Bhairo or Bhairon or

Bhairadya, is the fierce manifestation of Shiva with annihilation. He is one of the most important deities of Nepal, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike. Bhairav is very popular in

Nepal. He is worshipped in temples and during festivals by Hindus and Buddhists alike.

Large Bhairav masks, such as this one, are unique to Nepal and play an important role in the festival celebration of Indra Jatra. Stella Kramrisch in his book The Presence of Siva writes: 45

Out of Siva's rage Bhairav was then created, in a human form. Bhairav or

Kala-Bhairava, is called the "Lord of Time-Death" and was created of the

most terrible, horrifying features, inconceivable to even the most imaginative

dreamer. Time itself is afraid of Bhairava. With a subtle movement, Bhairav

decapitated Brahma's fifth head with the fingernail of his left thumb, or in

other versions of the origin myth, with the nails of the fingers of his left hand,

or after a great battle . (261)

Bhairav is horrific figure. He is most commonly represented in the festival as a fierce, larger than life sized head, make of wood or painted on a larger wooden jar. In this form he is known ashathu dyo(god of liquor). A jet of distilled alcohol or beer is made to flow a few minutes from a pipe which sticks out from his mouth. Devotees drink this liquor as Prasad.

Such representations of Bhairava are displayed in different parts of the city by private associations (). These representations are worshipped only during Indra Jatra. The chief

Bhairava of the festival is Akasa (Sky Bhairav) whose temple lies in Indra Chowk. Images of

Bhairava can be found in Buddhist monasteries as well as in Hindu temples. Bhairav also dwells in houses, fields, cremation grounds, wells, street-crossings, the four wheels of the chariot of Macchendranath at Patan, and so on. Bhairava represents impurity, above all the impurity of death. His presence is also believed to have the power to protect the locality around him.Visuvaligam in his book Bhairava's Royal Brahmanicide: The Problem of the

Mahabrahmana. In Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays on the Guradians of

Popular Hinduism writes:

Bhairava is also honoured during the cosmogonic new Year festival in

Bhaktapur (Nepal). He is symbolized in linga form as two large poles crossing

over each other, with the earthen holes holding them in place being the yoni. 46

Bhairava is said to come and witness/supervise the ritual death of two snakes

during this festival. (184)

Although his outlook is fearful, he is considered as the protector. No God is presented in the earth but people celebrate the festivals to show the presence of the Gods and Goddess.

Similarly, Bhairav is a cosmic god, people worship him in different festivals. Bhairav has many types and different people interpret his origin differently. Most of the chronicles explain that it was the Thakuri king Gunakamadev (924-1008 A.D.) who established the worship of Pachali Bhairav. The god is very much associated - at least in the Newari imagination - with the founding of Kathmandu, because it was King Gunakamadev who is traditionally believed to have founded both the city and the festival of Bhairav. He is further credited for bringing the Nava (the goddess worshipped during the festival of Dahsain) to the Kathmandu Valley, starting the festival of Indra Jatra, the Lakhey dances, and so on.

He also instituted, reputedly on the advice of the god Karttikeya-Skanda, the ritual conflict - including human sacrifices - that took place between the north (Yambu) and the south

(Yangal) of the town during the festival of Sithi-nakha, in order to prevent his subjects from revolting. The political institution of the double kingdom was abolished by 1484, when Ratna

Malla made Kathmandu his kingdom, but some of the associated rituals and social structures remain. The Kings of Patan were involved in the annual festival of Pachali Bhairav and a puja tray is still sent in his honor to the temple by their descendants, living in Mangal Bazaar at Patan, who are called BhairavMalla.

Bhairav has permeated throughout Hindu religious practices in many convoluted ways. Much of the lore concerning him has been lost over generations, but the central theme of his transgressions and their absolution has remained as a reminder as to just how important he is. Bhairava is a great example of the ways in which contains ethical 47 transgressions, such as decapitation of a god, and uses these issues to explain the universal truths with realistic emphasis. Elizabeth Visuvalingam states this concisely:

Although much of the symbolism surrounding Bhairava is no longer

understood even by his most ardent devotees and the cult itself is being rapidly

effaced, one only has to replace those symbols in their original context to

recognize the trangsressive mode of sacrality that inspires them. (210)

The reality about Bhairav is still unknown. But the images and symbols of Bhairav is important in celebrating different festivals in Newari culture. The performance of Bhairav plays vital role in celebrating Indra Jatra in Kathmandu valley. While performing Kumari

Jatra, she sits at he center flanked by Living God Ganesh and Living God Batuk Bhairava. On this day, before all three deities boarding the chariots, tantric priests make offerings to the four wheels of each chariot. They invoke the most powerful and ferocious God called

Bhairava in each wheel so that each wheel runs without hitch carrying the load of the divinity and mundane people.

Except Indra Jatra people only see the statue of Bhairav. But during Indra Jatra they see the real figure of Bhairav in human form. At that moment people feel as if they are with real Bhairav. Spectators see simple person like them is being Bhairav (cosmic figure) at that moment they also can imagine being Gods and Goddesses. Bhairav is sky and also taken as

Shiva. Big crowd of audiences gather in front of Bhairav in Indra Jatra to drink alcohol through pipe form the mouth of Bhairav. Audiences take this alcohol as somaras and purified.

The alcohol is not the drink only taken by so called lower caste people. The audiences see that the gods need the same foods and drinks like human beings. And human beings can perform all the activities of gods and goddess and have godly qualities. So, audiences feel that there is not any difference between human beings and cosmic figures (gods and 48 goddesses). In Hinduism worshipping the god Bhairava has also special significance. He is the benefactor who looks after a believer travelling to distant lands. Most Hindus will offer a garland of cashew nuts to the god before embarking on a voyage.

Ganesh

Ganesh is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to is widely diffused and extends to Jains,

Buddhist, and beyond India. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him particularly easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles and more generally as Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles.

The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord of master. Apte in The Practical

Sanskrit Dictionary says: “the word gana when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the ganas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva”(395).

Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, in most stories he acquires the head later.

Ganesh is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. In Lord Ganesha and

His Historical Plight, G.P.D, says that "Ganesha is the lord of wisdom". Ganesha has great importance in religious functions. Showing its role William K. Mahoy reviews the book

Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God by Robert L. Brownin the journal of Asian Studies, vol 52. says : Ganesh's importance in obtaining material success for his devotee; his Tantric nature; 49 his ability to mediate all sorts of oppositions; his mutability in adapting to various regional and religious context; and his ability to transform various existential, religious, and psychological predicaments.

Ganesha as Vinayaka, the Lord of Obstacles, has both positive and negative aspects stands as the elephant-faced god's true religious function. Courtright in the book Ganesa:

Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings views “Ganesh is the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order” (136). Because he is the lord of obstacles he has control over those obstacles. Controlling them, he rules over all of the transitions of life itself. During the celebration of Indra Jatra the chariot of Ganesh is also pulled along the street of Kathnadu valley. Ganesha holds a goad, which helps him propel mankind forward on the eternal path and remove obstacles from the way. The noose in Ganesh's left hand is a gentle implement to capture all difficulties. According to Hindu beliefs Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati who has a head of an elephant and Bhairav is another form of Lord Shiva himself. Bhairav is also the god of destruction. He is also considered as the king of elephant which is the divine vehicle of Lord Indra. So that also people worship Ganesh during Indra Jatra. He is depicted ornamented with a range of twisted serpents, which serve as earrings, bracelets, anklets, and sacred thread. He wears a tiger skin and a ritual apron composed of human bones. The Hindu god Shiva bears many different names and forms. The most important of these is Shiva in the form of Bhairav. Bhairav is a feared and ferocious god, needing to be pacified with offerings, but he is also a powerful guardian and the destroyer of evil. Three chariots of Ganesh,

Bhairav and Kumari is pulled around Kathmandu during the Yanya Punhi is series wise. It is said that the chariots of Ganesh and Bhairav are taken for the protection of Kumari god. On the day of the Kumari Jatra, before all three deities boarding the chariots, tantric priests make offerings to the four wheels of each chariot. They invoke the most powerful and ferocious

God called Bhairava in each wheel so that each wheel runs without hitch carrying the load of 50 the divinity and mundane people. Then, they make offerings to the main axel and invoke the

Serpent God called Basuki Naga in it. They also invoke other Serpent Gods in the ropes used for pulling the chariots so that none of the ropes break up while pulling the chariots.

Audiences during Indra Jatra worship Ganesh because, they think, the physical attributes of Ganesh are themselves rich in symbolism. He is normally shown with one hand in the abhaya pose of protection and refuge and the second holding a sweet (modaka), symbolic of the sweetness of the realized inner self. In the two hands behind him he often an ankusha (elephant goad) and a pasha (noose). The noose is to convey that worldly attachments and desires are a noose. The goad is to prod man to the path of righteousness and truth. With this goad Ganesha can both strike and repel obstacles. His pot belly signifies the bounty of nature and also that Ganesh swallows the sorrows of the universe and protects the world. The image of Ganesh is a composite one. Four animals- man, elephant, the serpent and the mouse have contributed for the makeup of his figure. The image of Ganesha thus represents man’s eternal striving towards integration with nature. The most striking features of Ganesh is his elephant head which is the symbol of auspiciousness, strength and intellectual prowess. Ganesh, though a powerful deity, is similarly loving and forgiving and moved by the affection of his devotees. But at the same time the elephant can destroy a whole forest and is a one-man army when provoked. Ganesh is similarly most powerful and can be ruthless when containing evil. Ganesh’s large head is symbolic of the wisdom of the elephant.

His large ears sift the bad from the good. Although they hear everything, they retain only that which is good; they are attentive to all requests made by the devotees, be they humble or powerful. Shanti Lal Nagar in his book The Cult of Vinayaka writes-“ Ganesh is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning” (5). He is considered as the god of intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. He is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at 51 the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business.So, as the god of wisdom and knowledge devotees worship him.

God of knowledge, Ganesha

Ganesh’s body is the combination of an animal and human being. It means he has the qualities of two creatures. The audiences see that Ganesh having two qualities being worshipped as god. Then they feel that human beings also can be god if they balance two qualities which is possible if they try. Thus, celebration of Indra Jatra makes the audiences 52 near to the gods and goddess. Not only that but they also feel that they are not an ordinary persons.

Cosmogonic Aspects of Mask

Ancient Mask

Cosmogonic rituals often include the reenactment of primordial events. These rituals give information about, for example, the ethnic group's origin and genealogy. They help participants and audience alike to connect to a higher cosmic order. They also include mythological teachings, which help mold the individual's pattern of thinking to that of the communal consciousness. Masks are the concrete forms of their myths because they could not store their abstract ideas and practices. Masks play a central part in many rituals and often represent supernatural forces that determine the destiny of the community.

Masks are one of a variety of means for signaling identity, or changes in identity.

Donald Pollack argues, in "Masks and the Semiotics of Identity," that "masks are not simply pictures, or a direct representation of spirits, animals, or other beings they are representing, 53 masks are simultaneously icons and indexes of identity”(581). The relationship between masks and the sense of identity is a technique of identity transformation where either the representation of identity is modified, or where the temporary, and representational extinction of identity occurs. Masks are one of a variety of semiotic systems that are related through their conventional use in disguising, transforming, or displaying identity.

Whenever and wherever it is used, the ritual mask symbolizes not only particular gods, demons, animal companions, or spiritual states but a particular relationship between matter and spirit, the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible. The mask and its wearer exist in a series of relationships analogous to those larger relationships. On the one hand, the mask is a lifeless, material thing animated by the wearer, exactly, of course, the relationship between human beings and the gods: human beings are created from lifeless matter by the animating force of the divine, and life exists only as long as it is supported by that divine force. Thus, the wearer of the ritual mask almost literally becomes the god; he is, for the ritual moment, the animating force within the otherwise lifeless mask. But at the same time, the mask expresses outwardly—visually—the inner, spiritual identity of the wearer, that is, the life-force within the microcosm, and is thus a truer reflection of the wearer's spiritual essence than his so-called real, or natural, face. Paradoxically, then, the mask simultaneously conceals and reveals the innermost spiritual force of life itself. The mask delineates the oppositional relationship between matter and spirit but in the very process of that delineation allows man simultaneously to be both, to unite his obviously material being with the spiritual reality he senses deep within him and through that union to express his profound identification with the cosmic structure of which his dual nature is the microcosm. All of this was contained in the metaphor of the mask which Mesoamerica placed at the center of its spiritual thought. Recognizing a central metaphor through which the most basic beliefs of a culture are expressed is an invaluable aid to understanding the implications of those beliefs. 54

As Thorkild Jacobsen points out in his study of Mesopotamian religion in The Treasures of

Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion:

…in its choice of central metaphor a culture or cultural period necessarily

reveals more clearly than anywhere else what it considers essential in the

numinous experience and wants to recapture and transmit, the primary

meaning on which it builds, which underlies and determines the total character

of its response, the total character of its religion. (4-5)

Mask is a medium to have cosmic experiences changing the real identity. Furthermore, one must see the metaphoric nature of the mythic narrative or image since the "purpose of the metaphor is a leap from that [literal] level, and a religious metaphor is not truly understood until it is experienced as a means of suggesting the Numinous” (5). It must be seen, in Joseph

Campbell's in his book , The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as

Religion, terms, as "transparent to transcendence," for works of mythic art are always "of the two worlds at once: temporal in the human appeal of their pictured denotations, while by connotation opening to eternity” (69). But the "leap" Jacobsen describes, especially in

Mesoamerican studies with its dearth of written records, can only take place after a painstaking examination of the remaining evidence of spiritual thought, evidence contained in the archaeological record, the few written sources that survived the Conquest, Colonial documentation of indigenous practices, and early and contemporary ethnographic studies.

According to Paul Westheim, that metaphorical fusion, achieved by the symbolic mask simultaneously creates and destroys a representation of reality in order to penetrate to the meaning: this is the goal and magic force of the symbol. In The Art of Ancient Mexico, he writes: 55

The symbolic creations typical of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art gives

plastic expression to the divine concept insofar as it is humanly possible;

therefore it arrives at pure, spiritualized form, an expression not of nature but

of natural law, that natural law revealed by heaven, in which it sees the eternal

and in which its theogonic system is anchored. Thus it attains stylization, an

overcoming of materiality through its impregnation with form and spirit . (44)

In short, each creation and use of a mask in Mesoamerican art created anew the central metaphorical relationship between man and the numinous. In each case, the mask, a symbol of transformation and thus a means of overcoming materiality, metaphorically united the realms of matter and spirit and expressed the basic Mesoamerican belief that the natural world is but a covering or mask of the supernatural. Through the symbolic mask, the divine order of the spirit can break through the barrier dividing the two realms and transform the accidental to the essential, the ordinary to the extraordinary, the natural to the supernatural.

But in the most profound sense, the mask reveals rather than disguises; through

"reading" the symbolic features of the "mask" of nature, man could perceive the relationship of those features to the creative life-force at the heart of the cosmos. And nowhere was this metaphorical function of the mask more significant than in the construction of the multiplicity of symbolic supernatural entities, each carefully identified by a characteristic mask and costume, which the conquering Spaniards called gods. These were not, however, independent deities as the Spaniards thought but rather the symbolic "names" for momentary manifestations of that underlying spiritual force showing itself in terms of a particular life process, and they existed in the same way as the forces and states they represented. Rain, for example, exists eternally only in the sense that it is a recurring part of the process through which life continues; in another sense, however, rain does not exist when it is not raining. 56

Thus, the "gods"' moments of existence would recur periodically as the eternal spiritual force regularly "unfolded" itself into the contingent world of nature according to the laws of the cycles that had their source in the mysterious order of the creative life-force. Metaphorically, then, the life-force functioned by putting on and taking off the various "masks" through which it worked in the world of nature. The "gods" were direct expressions of the spiritual force clothed in finery drawn from the world of nature and thus could be seen as mediating between the worlds of spirit and matter.

The masks of the gods provided Mesoamerica a metaphorical means of visualizing the transcendent, of defining the powers and differentiating between the various aspects of the world of the spirit. Used for those purposes, the masks of the gods gradually became more and more involved in priestly speculation as a means of recording the results of that increasingly abstract and sophisticated thought and as a means of communicating it on a variety of metaphoric levels to the laity. In that sense at least, through the course of the development of Mesoamerican spiritual thought, the mask was involved in and is illustrative of the growing intellectualization of the relationship between man and the gods, an intellectualization resulting naturally from the growth of a priestly class whose function was to mediate between man and god. But important as the mask's role was in the progressively more abstract speculations of the priesthoods of Mesoamerica, it was also central to another, seemingly opposed tendency. When donned in ritual, the mask allowed men to become gods, to experience the numinous in all its immediacy and urgency, rather than to think about the godhead with the detachment and distance of the philosopher. In Mesoamerican masked ritual, the world of the spirit and the world of daily existence met, and the dynamic tension between those two opposed worlds catapulted the masked impersonators of the gods, and, vicariously, those who participated by watching, out of the familiar routine of their daily existence into "a no-time and no-place that resists classification," which Turner has called the 57

"liminal experience". In his book, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in

Human Society , he says,

…in liminality and also in those phases of ritual that abut on liminality that

one finds profuse symbolic reference to beasts, birds, and vegetation. . . .

Structural custom, once broken, reveals two human traits. One is liberated

intellect, whose liminal product is myth and proto philosophical speculation;

the other is bodily energy, represented by animal disguises and gestures. The

two may then be recombined in various ways. (259)

Although Turner does not apply this insight to the speculative thought and masked ritual of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, it would be difficult to imagine a more applicable statement. the bodily energy of mask rituals provide an alternative means of liberation. For that reason, the examination of mask use in ritual is, in a sense, the most important part of this study since the ritual moment brings together at one highly charged point in time and space every aspect of the metaphorical meaning of the mask. We can see clearly that the mask, as a multivocal symbol at the point of liminality, serves as the metaphor for that pervasive transformational process through which the divine essence could create and sustain the life of man and his world. And we can see that the gods, defined by the features of the mask, were "brought to life" through the animating force of the ritual performer within the mask. In a metaphorical sense, then, life emerges through the mask as the performer merges his individual identity into the all-encompassing world of the spirit symbolically represent by the mask.

A mask is an object normally worn on the face, especially for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. It is believed that the word "mask" in English is derived from an Arabic word "Maskharah", from the root Skhr (sakhira) which means " to laugh, ridicule, mock ,or make fun. In this context John Piction in his essay "What's in a Mask "says " mask 58 is certainly a parody”. Mask is a typical object which can be used for different purpose differently. Main purpose of using masks is to hide and reveal the truth. Such an object is very important in the performance of cosmic rituals which depicts the pictures of different gods and goddess.

Masks are a familiar and vivid element in many folk and traditional pageants, ceremonies, rituals and festivals, and are often of an ancient origin. The mask is normally a part of a costume that adorns the whole body and embodies a tradition important to the religious and /or social life of the community as whole or a particular group within the community. Masks are used almost universally and maintain their power and mystery both for their wearers and their audience. Ritual masks occur throughout the world, and although they tend to share many characteristics, highly distinctive forms have developed. The function of the masks may be magical or religious; they may appear in rites of passage or as a make-up for a form of theatre. Equally masks may disguise a penitent or preside over important ceremonies; they help mediate with spirits, or offer a protective role to the society who utilize their powers. Stating similar views John Picton in his essay "What is in a Mask" published in African Language and Cultures says:

...the relationship between a person, a mask, and that person's masked identity;

or about the role of the mask in mediating the relationship between the

performer and his identity in performance; or, simply, about what happens

when someone puts a mask on. One can put it in various ways, but I must be

careful that I am not advancing the proposition that someone is more or less

categorically different in virtue of the mask he has put on, for this is a

proposition that cannot be taken for granted. Apart from anything else, it

would ignore questions of local, culturally specific categories of thought, 59

language, practice, e.g., the fact that 'masks' and 'masquerades' do not

necessarily take visible form. (181)

It means, no doubt, the use of mask is particularly to change the identity of the wearers though that concept varies from culture to culture. It shows that wearing mask has been a popular practice since the very ancient times. The continued popularity of wearing masks at carnival, and for children at parties and for festivals such as Indra Jatra in Nepal. Thus , the concept of that mask is very popular in different cultures. The main purpose is to disguise the human form and transcend to the form of gods and goddess.

Mask dances (Lakhey Naach) are performed in Nepal on almost every major religious occasions, like Gaijatra, Indra Jatra etc. Lakhey is a demon in Nepalese folklore. He is depicted with a ferocious face and man of red or black hair. Lakheys are said to be demons who used to live in the forests and later became protectors to the townspeople. The most famous Lakhey is Majipa Lakhey of Kathmandu who appears during the Indra Jatra festival in September. He is worshipped as a deity. City dwellers offer food and ritual items to him as he moves through the city accompanied by his musical band giving dance performances.

Modern Mask 60

Masks have been used throughout history for many different purposes, such as theatre, rituals, art, etc., and even in everyday life. There are many reasons as to why masks are used in rituals, and what sort of role they play in that particular area. Von Furer-

Haimendorf states that when one puts on a mask, they become a different person, and when in ritual can in some ways forge a crude sort of link to the spirits; such as used by shamanists:”The donning of a mask is believed to change a man's identity and faculties, for the assumed appearance is held to affect the wearer's inner nature and to assimilate it to that of the being represented by the mask” (1756). Newar communities are protected by a circle of

Matrkas, all conceived as fierce and ferocious emanations of the divine feminine. For their yearly festivals these goddesses are invoked into their procession images and installed on a wooden ratha (Chariot) or a wooden litter to be taken around and worshipped. In some

Newar towns and villages the matrkas further emanate in human form. Troupes of divine dancers, whose bodies serve as vessels for the respective gods and goddess. The importance of mask is more in Newari culture than any other community of Nepal. They take mask as a bridge between the god and them. Completely forgetting the earthly existence, they mingle themselves with gods and goddesses after wearing the mask. In general term, mask is related with day to day Newari rituals and festivals. They always use it through different names.

Because they never take mask as a means to cover their face or personality but a means to transform their identity is such a way that they find themselves as deity. On the same line,

Mary M. Aderson in her book The Festivals of Nepal mentions:

I came to see that, for Nepalese, the continuous flow of interrelated festivals

throughout the year is literally a way of life, reflecting their joys and fears,

dreams and sorrows. The festivals become a calendar, marking the changing

seasons, the revolving of the years and ages, giving continuity and meaning to

their lives. They cement the strong and vital bonds between individual 61

members in each family, as well as the ties within established social groupings

of caste and clan and class. And to degree the festivals are instrumental in

welding together the citizens of a recently democratized nation. (15)

Throughout the year Newari people celebrate different festivals reflecting different human emotions and psyche. So, she believes that mask is really an integral part of Newari culture.

If we observe minutely, we find that they are part of their religious traditions. Mask dances make us easy to understand the Newari culture and tradition. The Newari community, especially in the Kathmandu valley, is rich in various forms of dances and performances.

Almost all popular dances that are performed in this community are mask dances.

Different forms of the mask dance can be seen in Kathmandu Valley. But these entire mask dances can be classified into two groups on the basis of their objectives –ritualistic and entertaining. According to the Newari cultures, the ritualistic dances are mainly based on worship and have a great deal to do with some particular temples and places. They name the dances after the main god and goddess of the temple. Similarly, the mask dances performed for the sake of entertainment are not confined to any specific temple; these can be staged at any place or time though the Lakhey dance has certain rules or custom of performance.

Masks can also be used as a form of protection against supernatural dangers, such as to avoid recognition by the spirits of the dead at a funeral. Von Furer-Haimendorf in his book

Masks,Man, Myth, and Magic writes- "The warrior wearing a mask symbolizing a superior power identifies himself with this force and is thereby fortified in spirit” (1764). Often, masks have been used in a form of ritual to ward away evil spirits, or to act out sacred texts in a festival. Von Furer-Haimendorf also says that in certain Asian countries, such as Ceylon, masks are used in rites of exorcism and curing, and in many cases the masks themselves represent the disease spirits that ail the patient. A mask can really be almost anything; a 62 physical object to hide ones face and be used as a sort of spiritual medium, or even the use of a specific attitude or persona in a certain setting. So, during the cosmic performance mask plays important role to transcend. There is no doubt that a form of mask is used widely in many different forms of ritual around the world, and can be seen as a very important prop in those rituals; whether for their cosmetic use, or their ability to help one connect to the spiritual, among other things. John Picton, in his essay "What's in a Mask?" says:

The metaphorical utility of 'mask' draws upon all of this: the distancing

capacity of the artifact; the properties of parody and pastiche; the parody and

pastiche; the 'mask' as revealing, proclaiming, hiding, denying etc.,

personality, truth, etc. (188)

Wearing masks during festivals and jatras, actor/wearer reveals a mythical character's action of face. On the other hand, he could hide his real identity. Masks portray the various moods that get embossed on our faces as reflections of the various emotions and states of mind that an individual goes through. Experiences of emotions-love, anger, hate, fury, joy, fear, disgust, sorrow-transcend castes, creed and nationality and the universal body language depicting these emotions has been sought by man to be given form through masks. Masks can be thought of as having been created by our ancestors to form a bridge between the outer phenomenal world and the inner person. Though the modern world belittles masks as being tools for cosmetic disguise and are often attached with a negative connotation, the ancient world treated masks as instruments of revelations- a pathway to the world of gods and other invisible powers-by giving form to the formless. This endeavor of our ancestors to know the unknown is given shape by the mask-be it of deities or cult icons or even exorcism and ritual healing. Masks thus became an object of reverence in all ancient cultures and are considered so, even now by aboriginal people around the world. 63

Lakhey Naach (Mask Dance)

Lakhey ready for performance

Masks which are worn by men during rituals or festival are part of their costumes.

These masks help the performer for cosmic appearance. The Newari word Pyakha, which is usually translated as 'dance', means literally,' seeing a dress-up or a costume disguise'. It is difficult to know how old these ritual dances (pyakha) are: they are also called 'dances of gods'. The word dyah, which means god, is applied to images as well as to forces distinct from images but which nevertheless can be brought to reside in them. A mask is only part of an ensemble: the dancers must wear the appropriate clothes and before starting to dance they 64 have to have a dark mark put in the middle of their forehead which is the symbol of

Nasadyah, the Newar epithet for Siva, god of dance and music. Anne Vergati in her book

Gods and Masks of the Kathmandu Valley writes:

In Kathmandu, on the evening of the fourth day of the Indra Jatra the

Buddhists participate with Hindus in the circumambulations of the town. First

they go around the city boundaries offering lights and secondly they follow a

farmer with a which mask dressed as Dagi or Dakini. (54)

Besides the performance of Goddess Kumari as incarnation of Goddess Taleju. Indra Jatra is full of different performance of dances and dramas representing different god and goddess.

The dancers wear bright elaborate masks and customs of silk and ribbons. They represent legendary demons and powerful deities-in fact they are the demons and deities, who have descended onto the bodies of the entranced dancers, giving them incredible agility, strength and sometimes ferocity. The dancers are scared and worshipped as the gods themselves. The famous Lakhey Dance originated in a legend of man named MajiputLakhey. Majipa Lakhe is a special Lakhey. The Nepal Bhasa word Majipa is derived from Sanskrit "Manjupattan" or the city established by Manjushree. Lakhe is derived from two Nepal Bhasa words "laa" meaning meat and "khen" meaning egg. Lakhe is the term used to denote carnivorous demons. So, Majipa Lakhey literally means the carnivorous demon of Majipa. According to the legends, a Lakhey was supposed to have fallen in love with a girl from Majipa. So, the demon took form of a human and entered the city to see his beloved. Upon knowing the fact that the person was a Lakhey, the people captured the Lakhey and presented him to the king.

The king made a proposal to the demon that he will grant him a place in the city if he vowed to preserve the children from other demons and participate in the annual Yanyaa Punhi jatra

(also called Indra Jatra). The Lakhey agreed and is supposed to reside in Majipa ever since.

The demon Lakhey is embodied in the famous mask itself, and the spirit of the mask enters 65 the dancer. The violent god Bhairab comes out with two attendants in the SawoBhaku Dance.

The audience gives the long-haired, sword-spinning dancer a wide berth. He is appeared only by the blood of a scarified animal, which he drinks from its neck.

A demon called "Lakhey" not finding his patron Goddess "Taleju" simply followed in the foot-prints of the Malla king and ended up at the Hanumandhoka where the Malla king enshrined "Taleju". Thus, the Lakhe dance simply depicts how the demon went in search of

Goddess Taleju. The real meaning of Kumari worship is to empower us invoking Goddess

Kumari –our body is also a divine. There is no divine like a human body. Our body has different piths from where Tantriks generate power. Gods reside in our body. Our body is our own powerhouse. The human body is made of five basic elements called pancha-Mahabhut.

We energize them through worshipping a human body in the Living Goddess Kumari, and then we become empowered from them.

Majipa Lakhey is a special Lakhey. He is also known as the peaceful Bhairav.

According to stories passed down the generations, a Lakhey is supposed to have fallen love with a girl from Majipa. So, the demon takes form of a human and enters the city to see his beloved. Upon knowing the fact that the person is a Lakhey, the people capture the Lakhey and present him to the king. The king makes a proposal to the demon that he will grant him a place in the city if he vows to preserve the children from other demons and participate in the annual Yanyaa Punhi Jatra (Indra Jatra). The Lakhey agrees and is supposed to reside in

Majipa ever since.

Another story links Lakhey to banishing the two cannibal children of the king called

Sawan Bhaku after he was requested to do so by Akash Bhairav and Hanuman. However, the two children return to the city on Yanyaa Punhi (Indra Jatra) claiming their rule and to devour humans. Lakhey is supposed to send them out of the city. This is symbolically represented in 66 a dance conducted in Yanyaa Punhi (Indra Jatra) every year. So, the performance of dance during Indra Jatra has historical and cultural importance. Indra Jatra is full of the performance of different cosmic figure which are related to the human kind and preserve the world.

Similarly, Lakhey also vowed and mad promise with the people and king to save the children so, Lakhey dance performs every year in Indra Jatra.

The object mask is used to disguise the real figure. During Indra Jatra also mask is used to perform Lakhey dance. Lakhey is a cosmic figure which can’t be found in natural world. So, any person can use the mask and act as Lakhey during the festival. No doubt, the person who act as Lakhey will have real experience of cosmic figure Lakhey and s/he thinks different than normal human beings. They perform all the activities thinking that there are real figures behind them. In a sense, performance of mask dances is a stage where the audiences watch gods’ and demons’ activities in front of them. They indulge in the activities performed by the person like them and forget the natural world which make them feel that they are not simple person of bones and muscles. They think that they also have spiritual qualities like cosmic figures and can be gods and goddesses.

Pulu-Kishi Dance

The "Pulu-Kishi" elephant dance is a comic dance representing Indra's steed searching for its master, the huge wicker elephant lumber around, snatching people's hats and knocking gleeful children to the ground with its heavy tail. It is the hollow painted white elephant. In it, two people go inside an elephant costume and start their journey in a wild way accompanied by a man holding a flaming torch made of oil and musical bands. 67

Pulu-Kishi ready for searching his master, Indra

Different people interpret Pulu Kishi Naach differently. One version of traditional story –the white elephant is Airawat which is the vehicle of the god Indra. It is said that when

Indra had come to Kathmandu to take Parijat for his mother at that time Airawat was with him. Indra was chained by the people of Kathmandu when they found red- hand stealing the flower. When Airawat went in search of his master, people caught the elephant and freed 68 later only after it promised that it would come and dance at each Indra Jatra festival. So, nowadays, in the celebration of Indra Jatra, it goes here and there in search of god Indra.

During Indra Jatra different disguised form can be seen. People act as cosmic figure .

They act and dance as if they are real gods and goddess and other cosmic figures. Similarly this Pulu Kishi dance also has important place in performing Newari culture. From long time, people have been worshiping power-physical or supernatural. In this context, people worship the elephant may be of two reasons- the vehicle of god Indra or the powerful animal of the jungle. Among different cultural performance in Newari culture, this Pulu-Kishi has its remarkable space. It gives really an interesting performance by dramatizing human psyche and society. This elephant is not an ordinary elephant because it is the vehicle of Indra and comes from heaven to earth. Whenever, the elephant goes here and there searching his master, the audiences enjoy with the moment. They also will have the thinking that even human beings can punish to the god for wrong deeds. Similarly, the searching of elephant is vain since it can not find its master. It encourages to the audiences to continue their mission even if they fail because the work of elephant finding his master and Indra’s plucking flower secretly are vain and could get success.

Dasha Avatar

The ten incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Dasavatar is shown every night during Indra

Jatra. The Dasha Avatars" refer to the ten incarnations of Hindu Lord Vishnu who is one of the Hindus' holy trinity, the supreme powers. Lord Vishnu is said to have manifested himself in various incarnations called Avatars, for the destruction of evil or restoration of faith and justice in the world. Lord Vishnu is a cosmic figure whose action can be seen by human beings in manifested forms. These incarnations are said to have been in the human form, in the animal form and even in the combined human-animal form. Though popularly believed to be ten in number. Every year during the time of Indra Jatra festival when chariot of Kumari 69 is taken out to go around the city, these avatars are shown in the afternoon and next day at the same place.

Dasha Avatar also plays vital role for the performance of cosmic figure during Indra

Jatra.It tries to show different Avatars of the Lord Vishnu which, in reality, human beings till this date have not seen real figure but they are in their mind and imagination. Devotees, seeing different avatars of Vishnu, feel that they are with real Vishnu. Which help them to be spiritual one. Thus, this research claims that Newari performance culture is rich in performing cosmic figure during the jatra. Vishnu who is known as the preserver of the universe , seeks from time to time to redeem the world and as an avatar (Incarnation) manifests his Divine Being into the life of man, whenever evil threatens it. Each of these

Avatar's have significant impact on the timeline of occurrences.

Till today’s date there are 10 avatar's that Vishnu has taken as Dashavatar. They are-

(1) Matsya, ( 2) Kurma, (3) Varaha, (4) Narasimha, (5) Vamana, (6) Parashuram, (7) Ram,

(8) , (9) Buddha, and (10) Kalki

Indra is regarded as Lord of Heaven or Swarga and Rain. In post-Vedic texts, Indra is described with more human characteristics and vices than any other Vedis deity. Modern

Hindus, also tend to see Indra as minor deity in comparison to others in the Hindu pantheon, such as Shiva, Vishun, Devi. A puranic story illustrating the subjugation of Indra's pride is illustrated in the story of Goverdhan hill where Krishna, avatar or incarnation of Vishnu carried the hill and protected his devotees when Indra, angered by non-worship of him, launched rains over the village. 70

Different Avatars (Incarnation) of Vishnu

According to another version, Indra tricked Ahalya, the wife of Gautama Maharishi, in the guise of the saint into letting him make love to her. Gautama punished him with a curse. Due to his such sin, Indra's throne is supposed to remain insecure forever. He is repeatedly humiliated by demonic kings like Ravana of Lanka, whose son Indrajit (whose name means "victory over Indra") bound Indra in serpent nooses and dragged him across

Lanka in a humiliating display. Indrajit released Indra when Brahma convinced him to do so 71 in exchange for celestial weapons, but Indra, as the defeated, had to pay tribute and accept

Ravana's supremacy. Indra realized the consequences of his sin and was later avenged by the avatar of Vishnu, , who slew Ravana to deliver the three worlds form evil as described in the epic of the . According to the legend, thus, Indra took help from Vishnu.

Indra prayed before Vishnu for protection and the supreme Lord obliged him by taking avatars and generating himself on Earth in various form. This event is taken as the victory of gods over demonic figures. So, today also people display ten incarnation of Lord Vishnu when they celebrate Indra jatra. Lord Vishnu descended upon the earth, in animal or human forms and protected the earth from the demonic figures and from the increasing evil. Thus performing of such cosmic figure has still importance. There are ten avatars of Vishun.

Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya

Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha ,

Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya

Tadatmanam Srijami Aham

Bhagavad Gita Chapter (4-7)

Narrates Krishna to Arjuna: Whenever Dharma, or the situation of law and order, is endangered on this world. I incarnate onto this world to re-establish Dharma, law and order, and to protect the of saints and to destroy the evil elements of the society.

The descents of Vishnu from Vaikuntha to earth are his avatars or incarnations. The god in each descent is different because the demands of the world each time are different.

The different avatars thus reinforce the idea that rules and regulations that maintain order are not static by nature. They are forged when the demands of desire clash with the quest for order. As man’s understanding of the world changes, desires change and so do concepts of order. Rules have to therefore constantly adapt themselves. Social stability must not be 72 compromised, yet new ideas must be respected. Vishnu’s descents are not just about reestablishing order, it is also about redefining them. During Indra Jatra spectators watch different avatars of Vishnu which had happened thousand years ago. So, whenever they see these different avatars of Vishnu, they feel as if they are in the cosmic world and together with cosmic figures (Gods and Goddesses). Actually, Dasha Avatar is the origin and ending of certain period of time which are named by different Yugas. During Indra Jatra the audiences get chances to watch all these episodes of the creation of the world in a single sitting. Whenever they see the activities happened long time ago they feel that they are immortal because all the activities happened in the earth before them are live in front of them.

So, celebration of Indra Jatra makes good relation between cosmic figures and human beings.

The devotees also believe that the huge diversity that we see in the world today emerged originally from a common single ancestor. God is one but worship him with different names and in different forms.

This chapter has described in details about the performance which can be seen during

Indra Jatra in Kathmandu valley. The most interesting and attractive performance of Indra

Jatra is Kumari Jatra for which the crowd gather in front of Hanumandhoka even without caring their life. Besides it, audiences see the chariot and images of Bhairav, Ganesh and the performance of Lakhey, Pulu-Kishi elephant, Dasha avatar of Vishnu. While the audiences actively participate the performance, they indulge into it, forget about natural world. At that moment, they think, as if, they are in the world of gods and goddess and will have the felling of super human. 73

Chapter IV: Conclusion

God never takes rest of anybody and he is present everywhere. Human beings do good or bad (deeds) and accordingly god awards result of happiness or sorrow. True devotee and true worship never go in vain. Everyone is god’s sons but his devotee is special that is god’s special attention. So, god is giving protection to every living entity, but if you become pure devotee of the lord, without any motive, then god will take special care of you.

The Hindu religion brings us the gift of tolerance that allows for different stages of worship, different and personal expressions of devotion and even different gods to guide our life on this earth. Having these thinking in mind, hundreds of devotees throng the local Basantapur and Indrachowk to have a darsan (glimpse) and Prasad of the facial image of Bhairav display at different places of the area during Indra Jatra. The gathering of the local people has been continuing from the beginning of the Indra Jatra which was marked first by hoisting a lingo

(pole). Hoisting a lingo is not secure but the audiences take part in the ceremony without caring their life.A large number of people visits local Indrachowk to have a glance of performance performed during Indra Jatra. On the occasion, devotees take jaand (local beer) and samay-baji (mixture of five traditional food items) distributed among the devotees. There is a tradition that from the first day of the festival images of Bhairav and Indra are displayed at different places of Durbar Square area. The Newar community considers Indra and Bhairav as one god with two appearances. The tradition also has it that the image of Bhairab is brought out from each house or temple for display during the festival. It is believed that by displaying Indra and Bhairav, they are extending thanks to the rain god for good harvest.

The third of the eight-day Indra Jatra, is the most important day as the goddess

Kumari is taken out of the Kumari house in a chariot. Before taking out in a chariot, Pancha

Buddna (mainly from Bajracharya community) offers a special puja (worship) to the goddess 74 in a secret function. Then Ganesh and Bhairav are brought out of their respective houses in different chariots amidst the beat of traditional musical instruments. Before the start of chariot festival, goats are sacrificed at each wheel of the chariots and are offered puja

(worship) so that the chariots would not meet an accident during the procession. The head of the nation, even the diplomats and other high-ranking government officials go for the darsan

(glimpse) of goddess Kumari. The audiences become so excited with pulling the chariot.

Even they quarrel to take the chariot in their places.

One thing that attracts the youth to this festival is going to the pipe joined to the mouth of Swet Bhairav. Boys just try to hold the pipe and drink the alcohol that flows from it at Hanuman Dhoka. The crowd to drink alcohol from the pipe seems very interesting. The audiences become excited to drink so, they pull and push each other to get the chance of drinking. The audiences also gather for the various mask dances of Lakhey, Pulu Kishi and

Dash Avatar which are performed throughout the eight-day festival of Indra Jatra. Lakhey dance is the most interesting part of the festival because of its violent dances, chase and fake fight with masked Bhairab and Pulu Kishi.The display of different avatars of Vishnu during

Indra Jatra also singnifies that any gods and goddesses can come to the earth to preserve in different manifested forms like –human beings, animals and any creatures. Seeing the different avatar, the audiences have the sense of immortality because they see different activities happened long before live in front of them. In this context, audiences feel that there are not any differences between human beings and gods and goddesses. They think that gods and goddesses and human beings are correlated with each other. Human beings need gods and goddesses and vice versa. Watching different activities of Kumari, Bhairav, Ganesha, they think that they can be as real gods and goddesses. Because of such performances and display help people to have cosmic experiences and feeling of trans-human. 75

Works Cited

A.B. Keith. A History of Sanskrit Literature. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. P. 389.

Ahmed, Syed Jamil. Reading Against The Orientalist Grain: Performance and politics

entwined with a Buddhist Strain. Calcutta: Anderson House Publishing, 2008.

Allen, Michael. The Cult of Kumari: Virgin Worship in Nepal. Kathmandu: Mandala Book

Point, 1996.

--- The Cult of Kumari:Virgin Worship in Nepal. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, 1975.

Apte, Vaman Shivram. The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass

Publishers, 1965.

Assassi, I.”The triple challenge of la folle Journee de Nantes or how to make a success of

Foll.International journal of Arts Management.Vol.12, 2010. P.59-71

Bahaullah. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahaullan. Wilmette, Illiois, USA: Bahai

Publishing Trust, 1976. P. 156-157.

Bista, Dor Bahadur. People of Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1967.

Bowker, John, ed. Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. London: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Campbell, Joseph. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion.

New York: Alfred van der Marck Editions, 1986.

Chaitanya, Krishna. Art of India: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Dance and

Handicraft. India: Abhinav , 1987. P.79.

Chidester, David. Authentic Fake: Religion and American Popular Culture. Berkeley:

University of California Press, 2005.

Courtright, Paul B. Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1985.

Eck, Diana. Seeing the Divine Image in India. Chambersberg, PA: Anima Books, 1985. 76

Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of Eternal Return on Cosmos and History. Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1954.

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Culture. New York: Basic Books, 1973.

Gellner, David. Monk Householder, Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and its Hierarchy of

Ritual. St.John College, Oxford, Ph.D. dissertation, 1987.

Goffman, Erving. The Presesentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1959.

Gurung, Bishnu Prasad. Festivals and Fetes in Nepal. Kathmandu: Modern Printing Press,

2008.

Huizinga, J. Homo Ludens. New York: Beacon Press, 1955.

Jacobesen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion. New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.

Jha, Hemanta Kumar. Hindu-Buddhist Festival of Nepal. New Delhi: Nirala Publication,

1996

Johnson L.A. Toward Definite the African Aesthetic. Washington: Three Continents Press,

1982.

Kak, Subash. Ritual, Masks, and Sacrifice. Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences,

vol.11, Indian Instituted of Advanced Study, Shimla, 2004.

Kapchan, Deborah. "Performance" The Journal of American Folklore.Vol.108. No. 430

Autumn 1955. P.479-508.

Kramrisch, Stella. The Presence of Siva. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.

Kuiper, F.B.J. Ancient Indian Cosmology. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1983. P. 241-246

Lamsal, Deviprasad. “Bhasha Vamshavali Bhag 2”. Kathmandu: Nepal Rastriya,

Pustakalaya, 2023. 77

Levy,Robert I. "Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in

Nepal". Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.

Macdonald. K.S. "The Sakta Religion and the Female Sex". UK: Hadden Library, 1902.

McKim, Donald K. Westminster dictionary of theological terms. Louisville, KY:

Westminster John Knox Press, 1996

Myerhoff, Barbara. Secular Ritual. Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1997. P.223.

Nagar, Shanti Lal. The Cult of Vinayaka. New Delhi: Intellectual Publishing House, 1992.

Nepali, Gopal Singh. The Newars. Bombay: United Asia Publication,1965.

Piction, John. "What is in a Mask". African Language and Cultures 3.2 (1990). 22nd Nov.

2009.

Pollock, Donald. "Masks and the Semiotics of Identity". The Journal of the Royal

Anthropological Institute 1 (3), Sept.1995. P. 581–597.

Pradhan, Rajendra Prasad. Domestic and Cosmic Rituals Among The Hindu Newars of

Kathmandu. Delhi: University of Delhi,1986.

Procter, Paul. “Cambridge International Dictionary of English”. London: Cambridge

University Press,1998.

Rappaport, Roy. A Ritual.Folklore, Cultural Performance and Popular Entertainments.Ed.by

Richard Bauman. New York.1992.

Regmi, Jagdish C. “The Kumari of Kathmandu”. Kathmandu: Heritage International

Education, 2000.

Slusser, Mary .Nepal Mandala. A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. Vol.I: Text. New

Jersey : Priceton University Press, 1982.

Schechner, Richard. “Performance Studies: the broad spectrum approach”. Eds. Henry Bial.

The Performance Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2008. P.7-9. 78

---.Performance Theory. New York: Routledge, 1988.

Shoghi, Effendi. Hornby, Helen(Ed.) Lights of Guidance: A Bahai Reference File. New

Delhi, India: Bahai Publishing Trust, 1983.p.503.

Sri Swami Sivananda. , Chapter IV-7. India: The Divine Life Society, 2000.

Stoeltje, Beverly J. Festival. Folklore, Cultural and Performances and Popular

Entertainments.Ed.by Richard Bauman. New York: Routledge, 1992.

Stone, Ruth. The American Poetry Review. Vol.30 No.4. P.19

Toffin, Gerard. “The Indra Jatra of Kathmandu as a Royal Festival : Past and Present”. CNAS

Jounal.vol.19.No.1, January, 1992.

Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process, Chicago: Aldine, 1969.

---.The Anthropology of Performance, New York: Performing Arts Journal Press, 1986.

---Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca: Cornell

University Press, 1974.

Turner Victor and Edie. Performing Ethnography.The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 26,No. 2,

Intercultural Performance. (Summer, 1982), pp. 33-50.

Vajrachara, Gautam. Hanumandhoka Rajadurbar (Hanuman dhoka Royal Palace). Kirtipur:

Tribhuvan University Press, 1967. P.170

Vergati, Anne.Gods and Masks of Kathmandu Valley. New Delhi: D.K.Print World, 2000.

Von-Furer- Haimendorf, C. Masks, Man, Myth, and Magic. Book 4, London: BPC Publishing

Ltd, 1971. P.1756-1765.

Westheim, Paul. The Art of Ancient Mexico. Ursula Bernard, trans. Garden City, New York.:

Anchor Books, 1965. 79

Wright, D. Histroy of Nepal. Calcutta: Ranjan Press, 1966. P.145

---.History of Nepal. Kathmandu: Nepal Antiquated Book Publishers, 1972.

Zeusse, E.Ritual Cosmos: The Sanctification of Life in African Religions. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1979.

---."Ritual", The Encyclopaedia of Religion, Vol.12 Mircea Eliade (ed.) . New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1983. 80

Contents

Chapter I: Indra-Jatra , Audience and Cosmic Consciousness ...... 1 Audience...... 1 Indra Jatra...... 10 Chapter II: Performance, Cosmos and People ...... 20 Performance ...... 20 Cosmic Rituals and Festivals ...... 29 Chapter III: Cosmic Performance in Indra Jatra ...... 37 Kumari Jatra ...... 37 Bhairav (God of Liquor) ...... 44 Ganesh...... 48 Cosmogonic Aspects of Mask...... 52 Lakhey Naach (Mask Dance)...... 63 Pulu-Kishi Dance ...... 66 Dasha Avatar...... 68 Chapter IV: Conclusion ...... 73 Works Cited ...... 75