After climbing the flight of stairs leading to the second floor, one can notice Juju Bhai Basan’s artworks displayed in the room. He sits at the corner of the bed, empty canvases stuffed right behind him. His peaceful residence at Bode village is soon going to be a busy headquarters on the second day of Nepali New Year, a festival that will witness Basan piercing his tongue with a metal skewer for the fifth time.
Basan was 28 years old when he decided to step in the shoes of Buddha Krishna Baga who was the centre of the annual festival of Bode, a small village in Bhaktapur District. Baga had pierced his tongue for four consecutive years before he had to step back due to his mother’s demise.[break]
“I read in the newspapers that the annual festival in Bode was coming to a halt as nobody was ready to take up the responsibility,” says Basan, an artist and a fine arts teacher by profession. When he enquired with his fellow villagers, they all seemed to have given up hope over conducting the annual festival.
“The festival is a cultural heritage of Bode, probably the one which introduces Bode to other people, and it was sad to see the tradition fading away,” he reminisces his feelings back then. “Organizing the festival came on the shoulders of every resident of Bode, but being an artist, I felt that it was my duty to facilitate the continuity of the festival,” he adds.
Chandra Shekhar Karki
Juju Bhai Basan shares a light moment with his wife Purna Keshari, at his residence at Bode village in Bhaktapur district. The couple is busy preparing for the big day when Basan will pierce his toungue for the fifth time this year on April 15.
In the annual festival, which is celebrated simultaneously with the Bisket Jatra of Bhaktapur, a person pierces his tongue with a long metal skewer, carries heavy lights on his shoulders called Mahadip and walks barefoot through the village for around three hours.
“On the festival day, the elders of the village and my friends come to my place to help me carry out the procession,” he says. The elders also include the past tongue piercers. The eldest one alive is Chandrasen Gho who pierced his tongue seven times. Dil Kumar Khape Shrestha succeeded Gho before he handed down the responsibility to Krishna Chandra Baga Shrestha after seven consecutive years. Baga Shrestha pierced his tongue for 12 years before Budhha Krishna Baga took up the responsibility. And now it is Basan who is keeping the heritage alive.
According to tradition, he is required to organize a big fiesta for all the volunteers on the day, although he is required to fast until the procession completes in the evening.
“The preparation for the festival starts two weeks before the intended day. We need to brew alcohol and take care of all the delicacies,” he says.
Though the festival is celebrated by the whole Bode village, when it comes to organizing, it is the family of the person piercing the tongue which is held accountable. Purna Keshari, Basan’s wife, says that it is not easy to accomplish all the preparations.
“I had no experience regarding any of these. Now I ask the elderly around the neighborhood to make sure the tasks are done correctly,” says Purna Keshari, a former mathematics teacher.
Five years back, when he had decided to take up the responsibility, he had not given thought to any of these. He also had the slightest idea of the financial stress he would have to face. Now at 32, married for two years with a 16-month-old son, Basan shares that absence of any committees to organize the festivals has been adding to his responsibilities.
On his part, he has been collecting financial contributions that have been provided by different individuals and organizations for five years time and saving it as a fund. “I have already collected sixty thousand Rupees and aim to make it up to two hundred thousand,” he says. He adds that he is doing so because he wants to ease the financial burden on his successors.
“Getting oneself mentally and physically prepared for this ardent task is certainly necessary. But apart from that, financial issues can also dissuade one from taking this responsibility and I want to ease this for the future generations,” he says.
For a person to be eligible to pierce his tongue for the festival, he needs to be a resident of Bode village and must come from a Newar community. When asked if the tradition will fade away if Basan has to turn down due to various reasons, he says that he is hopeful that it will not.
“When I started, there was a serious dearth of people interested in the festival. But I believe that people have rediscovered the importance of this heritage,” he says, adding, “I will be more than happy to hand the responsibility over if somebody is ready for it.”
Purna Keshari, on the other hand, though, is facing many difficulties while helping her husband continue the heritage of Bode, says that she will always be a strong support to her husband’s commitments.
“I believe that he’s a great man with much patience, calmness and a passion to work selflessly,” says the proud wife.
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