Children find happiness in mud on the rice field during the celebration of Rice Plantation Festival in Kathmandu Nepal. 29 June 2013
Happiness In Nepali Mud
People
The last witness of a Himalayan Culture
A Photo and Multimedia story coming soon…
The place where she lives
Hindu women celebrate Rishi Panchami festival in Nepal
Hindu women take holy bath in Bagmati River on the occasion of Rishi Panchami festival at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. Hindu women believe that the fasting, worship and the holy bath in the river will purify any offenses that occurred during menstruation period.
Hindu women celebrate Rishi Panchami festival by fasting and taking holy bath in rivers. Hindu women believe that the fasting, worship and the holy bath in the river will purify any offenses that occurred during menstruation period. In most of the Hindu family, Menstruation is taken as symbol impurity and women are not supposed to take part in religious ceremonies during this period. Women worship Sapta Rishi (Seven Saints) asking forgiveness for the offenses occurred during the monthly periods throughout the Year.
Ganga Dash, the Hybrid Sadhu Baba of Pashupatinath
By Nabin Baral
“If your heart wants to fly away, let it fly, but keep you body in control. What can the pathetic heart do? It will come itself into your body at last”, Ganga Dash replied when he was asked about sex.
Ganga Dash, 55, is living in Pashupatinath Temple areas in Kathmandu since 30 years. He is Guru Maharaj for all the junior Sadhus in the temple. He was born in Mohatari district of Nepal.
He lives in a small room in an Ashram in northern part of Pashupatinath. Since the age of ten he devoted his life in to Hindu Religion. “I devoted my life to god; it’s the God who wanted me to become Sadhu. Ram is my aim, he is also the form Shiva.” Ganga Das related his aim with God. “It is all about god, the Godhas done what he has thought for my life”, he added.
Ganga did Koti Bishnu Maha Yagya, a hug religious ceremony in Pashupatinath establishing 108 statues of god during the event. According to Ganga, the three decades of his life in Pashupatinath has made him to earn Punya or good Karma. In Hinduism Punya is earned by helping human being and by worshiping God and Goddesses.
Ganga believes that he has got blessing power that he earned due to his devotion in God. He also believes that he can change the life of a person by his blessings.
“Being a Sadhu, I have earned Punya, the Punya has given me the power of blessing and now I can bless for the well being of the people. It might take time to show the effect my blessing but it will work at last”, He said with his confidence.
He remembers a story of a person named Prabin Jha with confusion, whose who got rid of credit of five million rupees because of his blessings. He also believes that Prabin’s daughter and son also got success for abroad study in America and Australia due to his blessings.
The daily life Ganga Das starts with the worship of rising Sun God by offering water early in the morning. Before the worship a holy bath is must for him every morning. After the worship of Sun God he does Yoga and Jap. His first food is juice of cereals with lemon, sugar and salt. At about 11 am he joins with all the Sadhus for the daily free food offered by a near Asharam in Pashupatinath.
Every morning he opens his coiled two and half meters long hair and one meter long beard. The hair is dead locked. He never use soap or shampoo, instead he uses ashes as cleaner. The locked long hair and beard shows his devotion in his life. It took him four decades to make such a long hair and beard. It is one of the best attractions for tourists when they reach the place where a group of Sadhu Baba sits as models targeting the cameras of tourist who visit Pashupatinath Temple. Of course money is involved every clicks of tourists cameras.
Ganga does not feel shame on taking money from tourists when they take his photos because of his physical body and the physical world. He said, “I have to feed this physical body, I have to travel different religious places in India and Nepal”. I need money for living and travel, I do not demand, I am happy with what people give me” he added.
He denies that he is like other Gagadi Babas. Gagadi Babas are those who smoke marijuana as holy smoke, they believe that Lord Shiva also took Bhang and Dhaturo, plants with medicinal value but can be intoxicated if taken more. “My life is Norco-None life”, he said. He does not believe in the intoxication of Bhang, Dhaturo and marijuana. “But I believe in the intoxication that I can get due to my devotion and worship to Lord Shiva”, he added. Accord to him Lord Shiva never took Bhang, Dhaturo and marijuana, but once Shiva drank the poison that originated due the ocean shake to save the life of living being in water and land. People misunderstood this action of Lord Shiva.
“I have the passion of God; I do not need any other intoxicating elements” he argued. In the question to- where is god? He replied “God is in the soul of every human being, it needs patience and devotion to find God on you, and normally you can easily find god in peaceful soul that has earned good Karma”
Ganga’s room has leakages from the old walls in monsoon. A plastic sheet is attached in the ceiling. A bed is placed facing East west and a L.P gas stove and cylinder is placed in the Eastern corner of room with some tea cooking utensils. The stoves looked like; it has not been used since many days. Ganga Dash owns a radio, a mobile phone, a pen, a note book, a small kitchen, a bed , posters and statues of God and Goddess.
He has got no interest in politics but still he does not believe on the state without king. He said, “The king has to take back his throne in Nepal”
His last words during the interaction were, “You have to live for yours stomach and Karma; if you take wrong way in your life, God will guide you in the right way. But be sure that you separate two hours everyday for God.”
The Mud Holi Festival
By Nabin Baral
“Have you ever done plantation of Rice?”
“No!”
“And you?”
“I have not done the plantation but have seen farmers planting it during my last week trekking in Annapurna Circuit.”
The bus starts with big noise, the discussion of two tourists fades out and a member of Powerful Hands stands up shouts towards the driver “Guru Jee we have to pick-up two people from Damkal, near Jawalakhel”. No reaction from the bus driver, the bus moves from Thamel.
Three buses, two big and one micro full of local and international tourists with members of Powerful Hands and staff of Social Tour, heads towards the Bajrabarahi , in the southern outskirts of Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Rice Plantation Festival on the morning of last dayJune.
When monsoon hits Nepal, farm lands becomes play ground for Mud Holi on 15 of Ashad. This year 15th of Nepali Month Ashad was 29 June, which is officially Paddy Day in Nepal and farmers celebrate with water, mud, traditional songs and food. Rice terraces in the hills of Nepal makes great patterns that no one can forget in their life.
After a short stop at Bajrabarahi Temple at 12 in the noon three buses reached the destination, a small village in Bajrabarahi. The excited rice-planters-to-be get out of the bus and head towards the main rice plantation plot.
There were many foreigners, some even with their kids, from different countries. The steps of foreigner were not nicely balanced in the mud water.
Raj Gyawali, the founder and director of the Social Tours tries takes the attention of the crowed but it was possible because of the excited rice planters. Everyone started to attack the paddy seedling that were made ready by the local farmers and started to plant it. Locals started to teach the way to catch deep the paddy seedling into the mud-water.
Within a minute La Ma, a staff from Social tour started the Mud Holi. He entered in to the rice field like a king lion. Everyone started shout, “eeee…!”, and run out of the plot but in vain.
“No! No! No! Oh my God!! , different kinds of exclamation sound started come out from the rice plot with the background sound of splashed of the mud water. The revenge starts and in some minutes everyone looked like same daughters and sons of same mother, the mother earth. No white and black, no national and international, no rich and poor. Now all the planters are covered with same order and color of mud.
Raj Gyalwali shares his Mud Holi experience in his blog write like this “ And when work turned into play, there was no telling who was who, covered in mud from head to toe. After a typical Newari snack and a drink or two of the local rice beer filled up with new energy, some real mud wrestling also took place”. He further writes, “All in all, what a healthy, therapeutic, fun experience – a free mud bath treatment for everyone! It makes anyone regain some youthful enthusiasm”.
For Dwayne Leditschke, from Australia, the Rice Plantation is a festival is a event that he has never heard of before. He found out about the event from social media. “It was a fantastic, fun day spent with friends; rice planting is not as easy as you think”, He said. “I like the mud holi play at the end”, He added.
Local farmers were excited to see so many people playing and planting rice together at a time. It became strange for them, the attempt of tourists trying to learn the paddy plantation. Local farmer shaked their hands of bye! bye! From the plot with smile when the excited but tired crowed left the muddy plot. With smile a local women farmer said, “ Arko Basra Feri Aaunus Hai!”.
The mud holi recharged back memories from childhood for the Nepalese friends and it saved up a unique new experience for the tourists. It is sure now that the facebook profile photos of these mud holi players will be full of mud.
Play in the mud at Bajrabarahi Rice Planting Festival
Local and international tourists play in the mud at the Bajrabarahi Rice Planting Festival Tour organized by Social tour and Powerful Hands at Lalitpur. The fun event is organized to educate people about monsoon rice plantation. 7th June 2012. Photo by Nabin Baral.
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