Khokana ‘divinities’ dance on Dashain sidelines
(Jen mi hodiaux denove en metas neesperanta meterialon en mia blogo. Gxi estas la artikolo kiun mi skribis por mia jxurnalo. Mi certe volis traduki gxin por mia blogo sed tempo mankas. Precipe cxar nun esta sezono de Hindua festivalo. )
Razen Manandhar Lalitpur, September 28:
Even as Hindus in the capital and other parts of the country are busy visiting temples of Bhagawati, the people of Khokana are marking the festivities of Dashain by witnessing and taking part in centuries-old mask dance of Rudrayani or Shikali. The Newar settlement, located some eight kilometres south of the capital, is known for its unique way of celebrating Dashain.
Putting on masks made of clay, ornaments and traditional dresses, over a dozen aged men danced for the first time in the village and blessed the villagers with their wrinkled hands while villagers, taking the aged men as gods, offered them sacrificed animals.
While one acted as Bhairav, the protagonist, others acted as Ajima, Rudrayani, Baishnavi, Kumari, Ganesh, Barahi, Kumar and Hanuman.
Once the aged actors die, sons or younger brothers are given their roles.
“It has been a tradition for centuries here,” said septuagenarian Laxmi Maharjan, a local.
The locals believe that dancers are endowed with divine powers once they put on the masks, enabling them to perform continuously for days. As helpers of the masked deities threw rice in the crowd, the local spectators wrestled to get their share, believing that rice thrown by the helpers can protect their children from ordinary ailments.
The festival of Shikali is stated to have been started during the reign of King Ananda Dev in the valley in 1246 AD. The festival is a mixture of indigenous practice, Shakta rituals and Shaiva legend.
“The philosophy of Shikali festival is very complex. Due to different political reasons perhaps, the festival has been given different religious colours. But we have to differentiate between its original indigenous attributes and Hindu additions,” Dr Chunda Bajracharya, a cultural expert, said.
Dharma Bahadur Trishuli, another expert on cultural values, said, “No matter how significant such cultural festivals are, they must be adopted to the contemporary society and interpreted to the new generation so that the people take the festivals as their own.”
Madan Krishna Dangol, the former VDC chairman of Khok-ana, said different historians ha-ve misinterpreted the festival of Khokana. The festival needs to be interpreted in a proper manner and recognised as a cultural heritage of the whole village, he said.
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