As the sound and rhythm of Khi and Jhyali, the traditional Newari musical instruments, resonated across the neighborhood, the audiences’ anticipation built even more until the gods and goddesses rested for a short while on an open space before they started with their performances.[break]
Such performances of the masked gods and goddesses, who are brought to Kathmandu Valley from Halchowk, the northeastern town of the Kathmandu Valley, are showcased in different areas during the period of one month.
Dipesh Shrestha
The main fact of the festival, however, is that it takes place only every 12 years.
“The festival is celebrated as it’s believed that it’ll keep natural disasters at bay and will keep the residents of the Kathmandu Valley free and safe,” says Sagar Putuwar, Guthi Naaya (chief of the guild) of the Halchowk Akash Bhairav Guthi.
The Halchowk Bhairav festival begins on first day of the Nepali New Year. On the first day, the Guthiyars, the members of the Guthi organization who are from the Putuwar clan of Newar community, visit Nagarjun, the northeast hilltop of Kathmandu Valley, to offer prayers to the Kul Devata, their ancestral deity.
“The Guthiyars are supposed to go on the odd numbers of nine, eleven or fifteen. We also take along elaborate offerings like different materials used for the ritual, a traditional light stand and musical instruments,” says Putuwar.
After the completion of the rituals at the Nagarjun hilltop, the troupe comes back to Halchowk, where the ‘devgan,’ the ten masked dancers impersonating different gods and goddesses, don their respective attires and initiate the first dance. After that, the costumes and masks are taken to the temporary god’s abode at Tamshipakha, north of Kathmandu Durbar Square area, where they are kept for a month till the festival ends.
Regarding the beginning of this festival or its interpretation, Putuwar says that they do not have any record.
“It’s said that once a big fire engulfed the main temple, and the inscriptions and historical documents were all destroyed. So it is very hard to interpret the historical significance of the festival,” he says.
Cultural scholar Indra Mali, on the other hand, says that the festival of Halchowk Bhairav must have started during the rule of King Gunakamdev in the Lichhavi era.
“Many people believe that the festival was started during the rule of Amar Malla, but he had only reestablished the festival which was on the verge of disappearing in his time,” he says.
The festival procession has no definite route but follows similar guideposts to those of previous festivals. The itinerary changes at every installment of the festival according to the coordination of the Halchowk Bhairav Guthi and the local clubs and organizations. However, one of their routine performances, apart from the first dance at Halchowk, is at Hanuman Dhoka on the second day of Nepali New Year.
Though, the Halchowk Bhairav Guthi prepares for all the performances in addition to costumes and masks, local clubs or groups of local residents take the responsibility to organize the festival in their respective areas.
Following tradition, the local traditional musical band of the particular area goes to Tamshipakha. The arrival of the local musical troupe at the temporary god’s abode is taken as an invitation, and along with the musical band of Halchowk Bhairav, the organizers parade in the particular area with the masked gods and goddesses.
At the street where the performances take place, a square is drawn on an open area with the traditional red mud. The masked gods and goddesses are seated around the square and the painted area is used as a platform to perform the dances.
The masked Devgan dancers impersonate the gods and goddesses such as Chandi, Kumari, Aakash Bhairav, Parbati, Ganga, Mahadev, Aakash Devi, Barahi, Dakshinkali and Mahakali.
Though every year during the Indra Jatra festival, the Halchowk Aakash Bhairav, along with Chandi and Kumari, is brought to Kathmandu, the Halchowk Bhairav festival is unique due to the inclusion of other seven gods and goddesses. It is also special for the presence of Aakash Devi.
Abhas Rajopadhyay, culture journalist, says that according to a legend, once there was a draught in the area of the Putuwar community. They went to the Nagarjun hilltop and prayed for rain to the Aakash Devi. Appeased by their prayers, Goddesses Aakash Devi struck the sky with an arrow and then it rained.
“This relates that worshipping Akash Devi is linked with the agriculture and farming community,” says Rajopadhyay.
Till now, it is believed that no one should view the festival from windows, balconies or rooftops as they can be hit by an arrow of Aakash Devi.
According to tradition, all the dancers should come from the Putuwar community of Halchowk and should be bachelors. Due to the bachelor criteria, the Guthi calls in for fresh dancers every 12 years. After the selection of ten bachelors, the Guthi prepares them for the festival, training them in the right postures and dance choreography for a month.
“The earlier dancers who were part of the devgan are entitled to coach the new ones on the dance moves,” says Putuwar, who was also part of the devgans in the previous festival twelve years ago.
But training the new lineup of devgan is only one part of the preparation. The Halchowk Bhairav Guthi starts the preparation one year prior to the commencement of the festival, as they need to take care of new costumes and masks in addition to other different rituals.
According to Putuwar, Tej Bahadur Chitrakar has been taking care of the masks. “We need to provide him with raw materials like mud, cloth and other prayer offerings, after which he presents us with the masks,” he says.
The preparation of the Halchowk Bhairav Jatra starts one year prior to the festival because the organization also needs to collect funds to manage the festival. “The subsidies provided by the government is not enough, so we need to ask the local communities for donations,” says Putuwar.
Apart from the costumes, masks and other ritual essentials, the festival also needs huge funds due to the practice of Pancha Bali, the animal sacrifice that entails ritual killing of five different animals in order to appease the gods. Pancha Bali is a series of compulsory sacrificial offers made during the first performance at Halchowk, then at Hanuman Dhoka, and on the last day of the festival. The animal sacrifices on other days depend on the wishes of the local communities.
Though it is an onerous challenge to organize the festival, its religious implications on the residents of Halchowk and Kathmandu still carry a huge significance. People come from different places to offer food and homemade beverages to the deities, believing that worshipping them will free them from problems.
Many of the practices during the Halchowk Bhairav Festival are carried out to follow traditions and conserve heritage. The older generations are mainly interested in worshipping while the younger ones seem interested in taking photographs during the festival. But in between the festivity and fun, it is necessary that everyone should understand the significance of the festival series so that the coming generations can also relate to these ancient Newar traditions.
Dance sequences at Halchowk Bhairav Jatra
Masked dancing is a known ritual to the Kathmandu Valley denizens. The tradition of masked dancers impersonating as various deities (devgan) are witnessed in almost all the major festivities in Kathmandu and many other parts of the country with dense Newar communities.
But unlike other masked dances, the Halchowk Bhairav Jatra witnesses a series of dance performances very close to the ancient theatre-style performance. There is a particular sequence of dances with slight changes in hymns and drumbeats for each dance.
The live music is provided by Khi and Jhyali, the traditional Newar instruments while a Guthiyar, a board member of Halchowk Bhairav Guthi (guild), sings hymns that resonate from the nearby speakers.
At the beginning, all the deities sitting around the stage, painted with traditional red mud, rise from their respective seats and encircle the stage.
During all the dance sequences, the masked deities perform in tandem to the drumbeats and hymns. When the speaker resonates with hymns, the dancers pause momentarily and commence as the drumbeats replace the hymns.
The dancers are required to follow the same steps at five different points; they repeat the steps at four different sides of the square and end by finishing at the center of the stage.
The performance initiates with the duet of Chandi and Kumari. Both goddesses dressed in red attire stand opposite each other as if creating a mirror image of one another. Their dance moves are slow and subtle.
The second performance is of Aakash Bhairav. The blue deity with a long sword has very aggressive dance moves. After a subtle sequence by Chandi and Kumari, the moves of Aakash Bhairav stun the audience.
After the throbbing performance by Aakash Bhairav, the triumvirate of Mahadev, Parvati and Ganga take the stage. Mahadev and Parvati dressed in white while Ganga in green, the dance of these three deities is soothing. It is surprising that the dance is in stark contrast with Tandav, the popular dance of Mahadev. The dance can be described as rather romantic or calming.
Aakash Devi and Barahi take on to the stage for the fourth performance. Akash Devi is dressed in green with a set of bow and arrow in her hands while Barahi has a peculiar mask that resembles the face of a boar dressed in red. The dance sequence of these two deities seems as if Aakash Devi is after Barahi while Barahi is teasing the fierce goddess.
In the fifth and final performance, Dashinkali and Mahakali take to the stage. Dashinkali dressed in red and Mahakali dressed in blue, each of the deity carries a knife and they perform a duet. Their dance are medium paced and involves more hand and leg movements than other dances.
After all the dances are completed, the deities go back to their respective seats. The dancers impersonating different deities should be commended for their efforts, as they need to dance in synchronization while bearing the weight of their heavy masks and costumes.
And even though many of the performances at different places have already been taken place, you can still view the festival on following dates: May 4 in Tangal; May 5 in Kilagal, and May 11 in Ason.
Do watch the performances because the next Akash Bhairav Dance Festival will take place in another 12 years – in 2025/26!
Intangible heritage documentation Need of the hour
As the devgans sit encircling the stage, a square painted with traditional red mud, people swarm around to get a closer look. They point their camera lenses at different gods and goddesses to capture the Halchowk Akash Bhairav Jatra that is organized once in every 12 years.
“But it wasn’t like this in the last festival. Back then, very few people owned cameras and even the Guthi had little idea about documenting the festival,” says Sagar Putuwar, Guthi Naaya (chief) of the Halchowk Akash Bhairav Guthi. Putuwar, who had taken part in the festival as one of the devgans 12 years back, has no photographs of his performance as Kumari during the festival.
Before the declaration of Nepal as a federal democratic republic, the documentation of these festivities was supposedly taken care by the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Conservation Development Committee. Since the Committee was directly under the Royal Palace then, the documents preserved in it were out of reach.
Saraswoti Singh, director of the present committee, says that after the abolishment of monarchy, important documents such as the list of objects in Hanuman Dhoka Palace Museum were handed over to the committee but materials like photographs or written documents explaining processes of different festivals were never received by the new committee.
“Those documents were not listed anywhere. So we don’t have any documentation of festivals, be it in photographs, videos or written documents,” she says.
Documentation of these festivals, especially of those which take place in interval of many years, represents the history of the culture and heritage of the country.
Technological advancement has proven to be a great benefit in documenting these heritages. But documentation alone cannot assist in keeping the records; systematic preservation of such missives also poses as a bigger challenge.
To address this issue, the Culture Division at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is making efforts to document these heritages. “We’ve been recording all the activities of many festivals in order to create an archive that will act as historical documentation for future generations,” says Jaya Ram Shrestha, Under Secretary at the division.
During this year’s Halchowk Aakash Bhairav Jatra, the Ministry has assigned a photographer to capture every activity that is carried out during the festival. The Ministry is also collecting such video and photographic documents from different stakeholders or freelance photographers of other different festivals that took place since the last two years.
“Carrying out these festivals is a tedious task. We should appreciate the community for putting efforts to save the culture and heritage on their own. But at the same time, there are many such festivities which no longer take place,” says Shrestha, adding that the initiation of documentation of various festivities is to save them from being extinct.
Though the process of documentation and inventory was customary since the founding of the culture division, Shrestha says that the new method of documentation is designed to be more genuine and elaborate.
“Now the modality of documenting has changed. Earlier, the Ministry used to document these festivals on the basis of experts’ opinions but this has changed as we are now required to go to the community itself and collect the information,” he says.
This new modality is followed as a fulfillment of agreement with UNESCO’s Culture Sector to preserve the intangible heritage of the country. As a state party, the government of Nepal is required to follow the standard modalities set by UNESCO.
“The new modality defies the hierarchical system that was prevalent in the culture sector. Now the government is required to go to the grassroots level and document the activities that are undertaken by the particular community,” he says.
Putuwar, as Halchowk Akash Bhairav Guthi Naaya, is also positive about the government’s recent initiation. “The Ministry people themselves contacted us and asked for information. They also photographed and recorded videos of all the activities during the festival,” he says.
He adds that these documentations are a good medium to preserve the history of their community and will be very helpful references to coming generations. “Apart from the Ministry’s efforts, we have our own photographer this year,” he adds.
As present-day historians derive from ancient heritage and the history of the present-day lineage from different inscriptions, wood carvings and books, videos and photos may also serve the same purpose for future generations. Though many cultures and traditions in Nepal are handed down through oral messages and practices, the presence of these documents will further save the rich heritage from fading away.
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