Chiiz Volume 1 : Pushkar Photography

Bisket Jatra:
rahul@chiiz.com
Apratim Saha
Kolkata, India
Rahul Batra
bestseller one day.
Nepal – a country
known for
its spectacular
mountains and
scenic natural beauty
– celebrates its
Rahul is a culture
based writer who
left his engineering
job to pursue a
career in writing.
He wishes to write
a psychological
new year on the first
day of Bikram Sambat
calendar. For Nepalese
people, New Year celebrations are
about representing their religious
devotion and enjoying the 9-day
event with joyful activities and
participating in various tug-of-war
events.
The event gives an opportunity
to worship the God for 9 days
every year. The act of praying
and worshipping is seen as very
important part of Nepalese people,
and they would do whatever it
takes to keep the God happy to
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have good fortune throughout the
year.
The occasion has always been
enthusiastically participated. It’s
that time of the year when the entire
country rejoices the social activities
to welcome the New Year with new
hopes and aspirations
A Brief History
The festival’s origins
go back to 5th century
BC of Nepalese history.
It is believed to have
started by king Jagajyoti
Malla. Legend has it that any man
who would marry his beloved
daughter, the princess, would have
a fate that may lead to a certain
death following their first night
of marriage. It wasn’t until one
brave suitor bestowed with tantric
powers decided to marry her and
stay awake for the duration of the
wedding night.
Soon after his princess fell asleep, a
ferocious snake slithered out of the
princess nostrils. Acting quickly,
Money Matters
Canon EOS5D mark III 24mm F/2.1 1/160s ISO1000
he drew his sword and severed the
head of the monstrous creature,
bringing tremendous joy and relief
to the denizens of the city. Since
then, the Nepalese celebrate the
event as Bisket Jatra festival.
Bisket Jatra at Bhaktapur
Situated 15 km east of the capital,
Kathmandu, the ancient city of
Bhaktapur is famous for its unique
architecture and statues. Every
April the city’s population swells as
thousands of devotees gather to
celebrate the Nepalese New Year in
a 9-day festival called Bisket Jatra.
The event heralds the start of the
Nepali New Year and is celebrated
with the great aplomb in the historic
city of Bhaktapur.
The event commences with the
pulling down of huge 25m lingo
(phallic symbol) which is erected
in the stone yoni (female genital
symbol) base. The pole is pulled
down, in an often-violent tugof-war
between the eastern and
western residents of the city. As
the pole crashes to the ground, the
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