The Rato Matsyendranath Festival

The Rato Matsyendranath Festival

The Rato Matsyendranath Festival

There’s a festival held in Patan This year it'll be held from May-June. It’s also a festival that has been the foreteller of some tragic events within the country’s history.

The focus of the festival is that the hauling of a huge chariot with massive wheels and a tall tower-like mast. Teams of young men haul it inch by inch by pulling on thick ropes. Moving this cumbersome contraption through different parts of the town isn't a simple task, what with the narrowness of the streets and alleys and therefore the tangle of electrical wires over them. increase that newer constructions on the roadsides, and you’ll understand that it’s an unenviable endeavor. However, the enthusiastic crowd gives it their all, and at an equivalent time, they create sure that everything is ship-shape both within and without the chariot, which the keeling tower-like mast doesn’t fall outright. Any untoward happening, like the idol not being painted perfectly, or the chariot being damaged in any way, or the tower falling, can spell doom, with a calamity of national proportions likely to follow.

That’s what happened back in 1680. That was when people noticed that the idol of Matsyendranath had lost a number of the paint on its face. The very next morning it had been announced that the king, Nipendra Malla, had died. quite a century later, in 1817, an equivalent thing happened: the idol was painted shoddily. That year, an enormous earthquake struck the country. At once more , another king, Viswajit Malla, had a hard thought in his mind as he was attending the festival. He imagined that the idol had shown its back to him, which wasn't an honest sign. He was right. That night, he was murdered in his bed. yet one more king fell victim to the wrath of Matsyendranath. This poor fellow had been helping pull the chariot, but the axle broke into 31 pieces. you'll guess what happened: this king also died soon after. And, in 2000, the tower-like mast crashed down into the gang . nobody was hurt, but something more devastating happened the year after—the entire royalty was massacred.

All of those reasons are why most are very careful around this festival, taking care in everything from its construction to its journey through the town .

But what’s the story behind this great jatra? There was a renowned sage by the name of Gorakhnath, who resided in Gorkha. He decided to travel visit the valley of Kathmandu one fine day. As was the practice with such ascetics, he lived on the alms offered by the people within the locality he was in at the time, so he went around seeking that. But, the locals of Patan didn’t care much for him, not offering much within the way of alms, and showing scant respect for the revered sage.

Gorakhnath vowed to avenge the insult, and visited the location where the nine rain-bringing snakes resided. Once there, he sat down on their heads and went into a state of deep meditation. As a result, there was no rain that season, nor subsequent , or the next… the valley suffered continuous drought for several years. The hapless valley dwellers visited him and begged for forgiveness, but the furious sage turned a deaf ear to all or any their pleas.

Finally, some cunning locals devised a desperate decide to bring him out of his trance. They decided to travel all the thanks to Assam in northeast India, where Matsyendranath, the angry Gorakhnath’s teacher, lived. Once there, they invited him with utmost reference to visit them in Kathmandu, saying that the people of the Kathmandu Valley were looking forward eagerly to giving him a royal welcome.  once they reached the valley, the locals took him to where Gorakhnath was sitting on the snakes’ heads and meditating. On knowing that his guru had come, Gorakhnath had no other option than to return out of his trance and get up respectfully within the presence of his master. Thus, the meditation was broken, and therefore the rain-bringing snakes became liberal to continue pouring down the rains on the valley once more .