meroo gahana pokhari jatra and hadigaun

om her temple to Handigaon for the festival.

(PHOTO A)

Photo B:In preparation for their journey to visit Tundaldevi Temple, Bhateni, Bhat, baby and the eagle are taken down and given a thorough repainting in an open fronted resting-place for pilgrims beside the temple. This is the only time that non Hindus can see more than the dangling legs of the hanging divinities. After much worship and offerings, the god family was whisked away in a mad procession, with us included, to Tundaldevi Temple.
(photo B)

Photo C:Fully attired and adorned, the divine family is properly re hung, with baby in the talons of the eagle at the far right. All day long people came with offerings of food, flowers and animals; they waited in long lines to touch or kiss the feet of Bhat and Bhateni, who have special responsibility for the healing of children.
(Photo C)

Photo D:The next day Tundaldevi is removed from her traveling khat and installed in her regal processional khat resting on street in Handigaun. From daybreak people line up to make offerings and contribute decorations for the khat. While chickens are killed beside the khat, the heads of goats and here a buffalo are stuck into the khat where their throats are cut and the blood flows fresh into the bowl in front of Tundaldevi. A priest sits with the goddess in the tiny space of the khat, making sure that Tundaldevi's blood thirst is quenched.
(Photo D)

Photo E:Music is everywhere: drums, cymbals, gongs, and reed horns often lubricated with home brew.
(Photo E)

Photo F:It took 40 or 50 young men to carry the heavy khat crashing, scraping and teetering through the meager streets of Handigaon. Things might have gone easier if they had all moved in the same direction at the same time, but that is an experiment that was never tried.
(Photo F)

Photo G:Every few houses had a large clay slip square marked on the street where the goddess first, followed by her daughter, was obliged to come crashing to the ground amidst shouts of triumph by the bearers and the onlookers. At each of the dozens of stops, both the mother and the daughter goddesses were thronged by devotees. With additions at each stop, decorations lost in the fire are now fully replaced.
(Photo G)

Photo H:




Photo I:With her bearers whipped into a frenzy, Tundaldevi enters Gahana Pokhari to search for the lost jewel. She makes a symbolic circle within the pond while her daughter circumnavigates beyond the crowd.When the mother's khat emerged from the pond, the daughter's khat bowed three times in homage.
(Photo I)

Photo J:In the early afternoon, the festival revs up again. Nearly 200 women and girls in traditional Newari dress and carrying offerings lead the neighborhood in a raucous procession to BhatBhateni Temple. The divine family has returned and is hanging outside, awaiting offerings, including a goat.
(Photo J)

Photo K:At critical points in the sacrifice, the women throw rice and popcorn.
(Photo K)

Photo L:The procession of women, bands and inebriated revelers then visits Tundaldevi in her khat at the intersection. To satiate her for her journey home that night, she receives another water buffalo, here covered with popcorn and rice thrown by the women.
(Photo L)