Kathmandu:

When we think of Fagun Purnima, we think of Holi, and the fun and colours that it brings. While the Hindu community celebrates Holi, the Thakali community of Mustang celebrate their own festival — Toranla.

Though Holi and Toranla fall on the same day, the significance is as different as chalk is from cheese. Hindus celebrate Holi to commemorate the victory of good over evil, whereas Thakalis mark Toranla to pay homage to their deceased.

Toranla is a three-day festival which the Thakalis including Sherchans, Gauc-hans, Bhattachans and others celebrate with great enthusiasm. Though it is celebrated for three days, some celebrate it for seven, and some for 15-20 days.

On the first day of the festival, which falls a day before Purnima (full moon), all the deceased favourite food ite-ms with other 84 dishes, fr-uits, sweets and liquor are prepared. The head of the family takes a bath at midnight at a river and without speaking to anyone, he offers the food chanting solo solo (please come and eat).

“For the Thakalis, this festival is what Dashain is to Hindus. All those away from home, come back and celebrate it with the entire family. Greater importance is given to the ladies of the family — daughter, sister, or granddaughter — they are invited to their parents’ home along with their husbands for a feast,” says Ram Krishna Sherchan, a Thakali resident in Kathmandu.

Married women usually bring jaand, fruits, chicken, while parents give clothes and money to the couple.

The interesting part of this festival is the archery. As a part of their tradition, the Thakali males play archery, while the women play Kauda, a game known as naka bhote in Thakali, and sing traditional songs and dohori. In Kathmandu they celebrate the festival for seven days at the Samaj Ghar of the Thakali community.

Prahlad’s victory

For the Marwari community, there is much more to Holi than just playing with colours. For them, the festival starts a day before it is normally celebrated, and lasts a day after.

According to Binod Kumar, the festival has a mythological significance: Prahlad, son of Hiranyakashyap was an ardent devotee of lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap didn’t like it. So he conspired with his sister, Holika, to kill Prahlad. She had a special blessing that even fire could not harm her. So on the day of Falgun Purnima, she took Prahlad on her lap and sat on a fire, but nothing happened to Prahlad, instead Holika was burnt.

Celebrating this event, the women of the Marwari community worship a twig, which symbolises Prahlad. They either worship it at home, or at Hanumandhoka on the day of Falgun Purnima. On that night, the twig is kept in the same fire where the chir is burnt at Tundikhel. However, the twig is taken out of the fire as soon as it starts burning. The women also worship the fire by going around it singing Prahlad’s praises.

Rings of cow dung tied to a coconut rope are also burnt. Taking home the half burnt rings is considered auspicious. Unmarried girls worship it. Special prasad is made by roasting papad, wheat grains, and gram on the rings.

The next day, small clay sculptures of gods and goddesses are worshipped. These are named as Gangaur. This festival is called Gaur Bhindora and is observed for seven days. During the seven days, the decorated sculptures are taken to the houses where there are new brides. In Kathmandu, this festival is observed in a grand way at the Agrawal Bhavan at Kamal Pokhari.

Tree of luck

For the Newars, Holi is marked by putting up the Chir (wooden pole) at Basantapur. The Chir is separated into three layers, which makes it look like a three-storied temple. Each layer has multi-coloured pieces of cloths attached to it, an indication of the beginning of the festival of colours.

The leader of the Dhalasikwa Manandhar Guthi started the ritual of putting up the chir at Basantapur during the Malla period, and since then, the Newars of the Valley has been strictly following this tradition.

“Earlier a tree almost 20-feet high used to be put up, but during the Malla period the tradition of decorating it with pieces of cloth was started and still prevails,” says Ganga Bahadur Manandhar, president of the Guthi.

When the chir is put up, the Gurju Paltan play the traditional tune and the same is played before bringing it down. The chir is put up for around a week and people worship it.

While the main chir is put up at Basantapur, another one is raised at Mohankaji Chowk inside Hanuman Dhoka Chowk.

On the day of Holi, the chir is brought down while people take away small bits of the cloth, which is believed to bring good luck. The chir is then taken to Tundikhel and burnt before the idol of god Gurumapa, which marks the end of this festival.

“It is also believed that if a man takes the ash from this tree and puts a tika on the forehead of the girl he likes, she will love him in return,” says Manandhar.