Kathmandu, September 7
Stakeholders have decided to take the statue of Rato Machhindranath to the Machhindranath Temple in Bungamati next Monday, September 14.
Traditional astrologers fixed the date after calculating movements of planetary objects, informs Chandra Maharjan, the chairperson of Jyapu Samaj, an organisation of the locals.
Earlier on Sunday, the locals had pulled the Machhindranath chariot up to Sorhakhutte Pati as a part of their annual cultural festival. However, the activity had been conducted at a symbolic scale only as the local administration had barred the public from gatherings so as to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The activity follows a violent clash between locals and police personnel after the locals unilaterally tried to start the jatra on Thursday last week arguing it was already too late to hold the annual festival initially scheduled for April. The festival was postponed repeatedly due to the Covid-19 spread in the city, but the locals had tried to pull the chariot notwithstanding the prohibitory order imposed to control the spread.
The District Administration Office had imposed a curfew in the city on Friday so as to avoid any untoward incident. Amidst the curfew, community leaders guarded by the police had performed a kshama puja (worship, seeking forgiving).
The officials then had agreed to cut short the regular procedure of the jatra considering the recently developed situation and take the statue to Bungamati directly without holding the significant Bhoto Dekhaune Jatra.
