The national festival of Nepal, Dashain, has now folded into the pages of history. Every year, it triggers Nepalis into motion to different places inside the country. This year, more than a million people are said to have moved outside from Kathmandu, the capital city, to other cities and villages. Not all of them have now returned as quite a few of them remain to celebrate yet another festival, Tihar, which is just a fortnight away. It is during Dashain that the family members meet, some, after a long time. Especially, on the tenth day, or Vijaya Dashami, people visit their senior relatives seeking blessings for health and happiness.
One has to delve considerably back to the history in order to understand the present form of Dashain.
Early humans used to hover around alone but later began to live in families. Gradually, they developed into a community, society and a country. They collaborated with one another but also had confrontations. The later would lead to fights and even wars. These would result after injustice meted to one by the other.
The injustice was portrayed as evil, and there was a belief that good would prevail over the evil.
Two of the largest wars in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata episodes were stark examples of the battle of the good against the evil.
Ram fought a victorious war against Ravana because the later kidnapped Sita, the consort of Ram.
Ram was thus the icon of good and Ravana that of evil.
Similarly, the Mahabharata war was also waged for the defeat of evil. The Kauravs consisting of a hundred brothers were labeled as evil as its elder brother Duryodhan tried to strip the daughter-in-law Draupadi naked in the assembly.
At the end of the war, the Kauravs were killed one after another by the Pandavs, the five brothers.
In order to secure the victory, energy was required, which was drawn by paying homage to the Gods. Ram is believed to have worshipped at the Rameswaram Temple before crossing over to Lanka for war. He is believed to have sent Hanuman to bring the Shiva Linga from Benaras, but there was a delay in the arrival of Hanuman.
He made a Shiva Linga out of sand and paid homage to it.
Similarly, Ravan also is said to have revered Shiva, but as he was a wrong-doer, the blessing of Shiva fell on the epitome of truth, Ram, and not on the eviler Ravan.
Dashain is thus observed in the memory of the conquest of the good over evil, the victory of Ram over Ravan.
The male domination, however, slowly drifted to the female arena with the emergence of several Mother Goddesses in places where the dead body of Sati Devi, the consort of Mahadev, disintegrated into several bits and pieces.
The Mother Goddess, Bhagawati in the guise of Mahishmardini Durga, started being venerated for drawing strength required for achievement and accomplishment in daily life as she was instrumental in killing the demons mounted on water buffaloes,who tormented the Gods and hence the name, Mahishmardini.
This word of mouth or Sruti culture can be seen to have taken physical form during the time of the Licchavis who ruled Nepal till the ninth century. Consequently, a Bhagwati image was installed in Palanchok, also known as Palanchok Bhagwati, a multi-handed Goddess holding arrows and piercing through the heart of the demons.
The inscription existing in the temple premise of the year 503 describes how such an image of Vijayeswori Devi was installed by the consort of Samrat Grihapati,Bijayaswamini during the reign of King Mandev.
In India, this fable seems to have received iconic form by the time of the Gupta period who ruled from the fourth to the sixth century.
The image of Palanchok Bhagwati was so beautiful that the two fingers of the sculptor were chopped off in order to ensure that he did not make any better images in the future. But he contrived the image of Bhagwati at Nala, for which he had to lose his right hand. Even then he assembled the image at Sobha Bhagwati, and for this, his left hand suffered the same fate. Even without both the hands, he was successful increating the image of Bhagwati at Naxal.
It is not only in the east that such incidents took place. Even in the west, the Norman architect, Lanfrey, was beheaded after he designed the castle of Irvy in the year 1094. King Harsha Dev, the father of King Shiba Dev, was ruling in Nepal during this time.
Because of such an interesting past, the Dashain is being celebrated with increasing fervour in the present. People spend money lavishly for decorating their houses, putting on good clothes and eating delicious food. It also contributes to the economy of the country. It is said that about 100 billion rupees are spent during the festival, which isa little more than 2 per cent of its Rs 43 trillion economy.
Dashain has also been combining the heart and mind of the people practising diverse religions in Nepal.
The glaring example is the exchange of good wishes by Muslim priests and civil leaders with Hindus during the festivalin Nepalgunj.
It restored the cordial relation existing between the two communities when it had been dampened by a recent inter-religious disturbance.
It will be further strengthened by the reciprocation of wishes by the Hindus during the forthcoming Islamic festivals to their Islamic brothers and sisters.
The future, however, appears dimming due to shrinking economy of the country. Even this year, people are reported to have bought lesser goods compared to last year. Due to the flight of young people abroad, the country is left with only senior citizens. It has led to a decline in agricultural and industrial production.
People of lower economic status have been experiencing difficulty in celebrating it with the desired pomp and pleasure.
The future, however, appears dimming due to the shrinking economy of the country. Due to the flight of young people abroad, the country is left with only senior citizens. It has led to a decline in agricultural and industrial production
A version of this article appears in the print on October 31, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.