KATHMANDU, Sept 18: The festival of ‘Teej,’ a big festival observed by Nepali Hindu women is being celebrated in a grand manner, wishing for prosperous life and perpetual luck throughout the country on Tuesday.
As per the tradition, women on this third day of dark half of the lunar month that falls in the Nepali month of ‘Bhadra’ observe fasting and wish for a prosperous life while observing the festival.[break]
The ‘Teej’ festival is also celebrated as ‘Haritalika’. All the Hindu Nepalese women offer prayers and worships at Pashupatinath temple and other temples of Lord Shiva in other parts of the country.
According to the ‘Skanda Puran’ (a religious scripture of the Hindus), this festival got the name ‘Haritalika Teej’ as it was on this very day in the ‘Satya Yug’ (golden epoch of truth) that the daughter of the Himalayas, Parvati, was hidden by her maids because of her refusal to marry Lord Vishnu.
A day before ‘Teej’ on the night of the second day of the fortnight in the month of Bhadra, women enjoy a variety of delicious dishes known as ‘Dar’ at their parental home where they are especially invited for this purpose.
The women on the day of ‘Teej’ are seen engrossed in jubilant dancing and singing in a care-free mood.
Women put on bangles, ‘Pote’ (a necklace made of glass beads), ‘Tilahari´ and ´Sindur´ ( crimson powder) considered the symbols of good luck and dress themselves up in red saris or other red outfits and adorn themselves with different kinds of ornaments.
Women in the morning today take ritual baths and offer worship while in the evening they pay homage to Lord Shiva, light lamps and spend the night awake.
The next day, the last day of the festival is marked by the women performing religious and traditional rituals such as use of 108 stems of ‘Datiwan’ (a kind of holy plant) while bathing with soil. They also worship ´Saptarishis´ (seven sages) and offer alms, thus completing the fast.
Both married and unmarried women perform various ‘pujas’ (worships) and observe fasting, praying for fulfillment of their wish for a happy and prosperous conjugal life.
As per the tradition, married women celebrate this festival wishing long life for their husbands while the unmarried women who worship Lord Shiva and Parvati are believed to find an eligible groom.
Women throng Pashupatinath Temple
A large number of women devotees have turned out at the Pashupatinath Temple from the early morning today on the occasion of the Teej festival.
According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), nearly 100,000 women have worshipped at the temple as of 8 a.m. The temple gates were opened since 3 a.m. today for the worships.
PADT has mobilized 6,000 security personnel and 3,500 volunteers for helping the devotees.
Hindu women observe a day-long fasting on this day which falls on the third day of the waxing moon in the Nepali month of Bhadra as per the lunar calendar. Married women observe the fast wishing for long life and prosperity of their husbands while the unmarried women do so wishing to get a suitable and ideal husband.
The festival of Teej also known as Haritalika Teej commemorates an incident in the scriptures in which Pārbati, the daughter of the Himalayas, observes a rigorous fast on this very day wishing to get Lord Mahadev, as her husband. Ultimately, Pārbati´s wish gets fulfilled and she gets Mahadev as her husband.
Women observing the fast worship lord Mahadev on the occasion of Teej.
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