When people think of Kartik Naach, they think of Lalitpur but only a few know that a Kartik Naach is also performed in the medieval city of Chitlang in northern Makawanpur.
The Naach started on Wednesday following the completion of the Swachchhanda Bhairavnath Jatra.
Every year, a night before Kojagrat Purnima, members of the local Manandhar Guthi hold a musical procession for the idol of Lord Bhairav where they parade it around the town of Chitlang and take it to the Bhairavthan temple at Majhgaun, Thaha Municipality-9 and perform special puja. This year, the procession was held on Tuesday.
Local Hari Sharan Balami told The Rising Nepal that the puja lasted through the night and the next morning, ducks, chickens, goats and buffaloes were sacrificed. The puja is performed by Manandhars and the sacrifices are carried out by people belonging to the Deula community.
On Wednesday evening, the Bhairav statue was once again taken around Chitlang and was taken to the house of local Shyam Balami where it shall stay for the rest of the year.
Balami shared that Jung Bahadur Rana was the one who gave the Manandhar Guthi the responsibility to conduct the Jatra. Swachchhanda Bhairav is considered the patron deity of Chitlang.
The completion of the Bhairavnath Jatra and the beginning of the Kartik Naach falls on the same day; this year, both were on Wednesday. Hari Sharan Balami informed that Kartik Naach would conclude on Saturday.
Resident Rajan Balami informed that on Wednesday night, the Kartik Naach was performed at the cultural platform Dabali at the Ashok Stupa in Chitlang. Then on Thursday, the masked dance was staged at the Nateshwori Dabali. The dance was again performed all through the night on Friday and will be ceremonially ended on Saturday morning.
The Naach is inspired from the Kartik Naach of Patan and includes the same nine gods and goddesses as that of the dance of the ancient Lalitpur city. The dialogues and hymns chanted during the Naach are in the Nepali, Newari, Hindi and Sanskrit languages.
According to the locals, the tradition of staging Kartik Naach in Chitlang started back in the Malla era.
People from all over Thaha Municipality and from the Kathmandu Valley throng to Chitlang every year to observe the Bhairavnath Jatra and the Kartik Naach.
source : TRN,
