Da Ugly Devil's Heaven

Bhoto Jatra consists of two words, bhoto (means a vest studded with jewels) and jatra (means festival). As a custom, the king is invited to the placed called Jawalakhel in Kathmandu, Nepal and the bhoto (vest) is shown to the king on the particular day. The bhoto is shonw from the chariot of Lord Machhindranath that arrives at Jawalakhel after a long process of the journey to the different streets of Lalitpur. The day of the bhoto jatra is the last stop for the chariot.

So this year it was on Sunday, July 8th, 2007. The bhoto was to be shown on 5 p.m. NST. But one unusual tradition was practiced this year. The prime minister attended the festival in place of the king. Lots of the functions where our king is supposed to attend has been attended by the prime minister this year. This happened since the republic democracy (loktantra) came to our country. Since the monarchy has been changed to republic democracy, all the functions where our king used to attend has been attended by our prime minister since he has now been the leader of our nation. I didn't go to see the festival in person but I heard if from the news in television about our prime minister attending our cultural function that day. Lots of tradition has been broken since we had republic democracy. Well before the Shah dynasty, Malla dynasty used to rule Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, and in Bhoto Jatra only Malla kings were supposed to attend and see the showing of the bhoto. Well that tradition was broken by Shah dynasty kings when they conquered Kathmandu. So I guess tradition are meant to be broken if it is for the benefits of the public. I hope and pray the future traditions will bring lots of peace and prosperity in the nation.

So on this Bhoto Jatra, our prime minister attended the festival and watched the bhoto and as usual Kumari made the second appearance and witnessed the Bhoto Jatra. So from that day forth, the festival is over and the idols were taken back to their respective resting places, namely Machhindranath to Bungamati and Minnath to Patan. The chariots were dismantled and stored for the next year. For more details about Machindranath and Bhoto Jatra go to my old post about Rato Machhindranath – The God of Rain.