Himalayan News Service

Bhaktapur, April 18:

The nine-day-long Bisket Jatra, one of the most popular festivals in Bhaktapur, peacefully ended here this evening. “Though clash and conflict had become the synonyms of the festival for the last forty years, this was the second time that the festival concluded peacefully after the one in 1990,” said Kumar Chhuka, a local of Lakhachhein. Last year alone, two youths had died while many others were injured during the festival. Different groups of locals used to clash as they used to enter into a ‘tug-of-war’ to pull the the chariot of Bhairavanath in the previous years. Locals expressed joy and satisfaction as no such conflict appeared this year.

According to District Police Office Bhaktapur, some 350 security personnel were deployed to maintain security throughout the festival period.

The festival concluded after the chariots of Bhairava and Bhadrakali reached the premises of Nyatapola temple at Taumadi. Earlier today, the ‘tug-of-war’ for the pulling of the chariots had begun from Gahiti. The festival begins a few days before the beginning of the Nepali New Year with the view to bidding farewell to the passing year and welcoming the coming year. A lingo, erected on the last day of the previous year, is brought down on the first day of the New Year. Locals said they worshipped god Bhairav and goddess Bhadrakali yesterday at a sacred place called Devgriha where the idols of the gods and goddess, which are believed to have met during the festival, are kept.