Tour Guide, Annapurna, Nepal
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Indra Jatra is one of the festivals celebrated by Newais group of the Kathmandu Valley. The eight-day long festival is most commonly known as the biggest religious street festival in Kathmandu. It's also defined as: Ye does mean "Kathmandu Valley " and nya means "celebration", together. Yenya does mean "celebration inside the valley, Kathmandu" in Nepali language. The celebrations consist of two events. Indra Jatra is manifested by masked dances of deities and demons, displays of sacred images and tableaus in the honour of Lord Indra, the King of Heaven. The other event is Kumari Jatra, the chariot procession of the living goddess Kumari.
This festival falls in September. This also marks the beginning of a month-long festival season of autumn. It begins with the erection of a wooden pole made of pine at Basantapur Square front of the old Hanuman Dhoka Palace.
For the pole-raising ceremony, hundreds of spectators gather around the Palace compound. The Living Goddess with the chariot is taken out in a procession through the main streets of Kathmandu.
Masked dancers are known as Lakhay take to the streets almost every evening accompanied by loud drums. It is believed that when Indra came down from heaven in human form to look for an herb.
Each night of Indra Jatra, the Kathmandu Durbar Square will be glowing with oil wicks and the temple of the Living Goddess, where performing show is taken place.
In the afternoon, before full moon, ecstatic mobs gather near Hanuman Dhoka Palace for the long-awaited Living Goddess’ chariot procession to catch a glimpse of the revered little Newari girl who has been deified as Kumari.
The chariot of the Kumari followed by two other smaller chariots carrying a representative of Ganesh and Bhairav is taken to different parts of the old Kathmandu. The festival of Indra Jatra ends with the lowering of the (lingam) pole bearing Indra's flag amidst religious ceremonies.
Ceremony
The festival starts with Yosin Thanegu, the erection of Yosin or Linga, a wooden pole from which the banner of Indra is unfurled, at Kathmandu Durbar Square. The pole, a tree shorn of its branches and stripped of its bark, is obtained from a forest near Nala (east of Kathmandu). It is dragged all the way form Nala to Bashantapur Durbar Square..
Another event on the first day when participants visit shrines holding lighted incense to honour dead member of the family. They also place small butter lamps on the way. Some sing hymns as they make the tour. The circuitous route winds along the periphery of the historic part of the city. The procession starts at around evening
Chariot procession
Kumari Jatra, which means the chariot festival of Kumari, coincides with Indra Jatra. It was started in 1756 AD during the reign of Jaya Prakash Malla.
During this festival, three chariots carrying human representations of the deities Ganesh, Bhairava and Kumari accompanied by musical bands are pulled along the festival route through Kathmandu on three days. The procession starts at around 3 pm.
On the first day of Kumari Jatra, the chariots are pulled through the southern part of town. The second day falls on the full moon day. During the procession, the chariots are drawn through the northern part of Bashantapur Durbar Square. On the third day, the procession passes through the central section of the old Kathmandu City.