Tradition · Kathmandu street festival
Indra Jatra
Also known as Indra Jātrā, Yenyā Punhi, Yenya, Kumari Jatra
Indra Jatra, or Yenya Punhi, is the largest street festival of the Kathmandu Valley, eight days in the Newar month of Yenla centred on Kathmandu Durbar Square. It opens with the raising of the Yosin pole bearing Indra's banner and fills the old city with masked dances, displays of Bhairava masks and butter lamps for the year's dead. Its Kumari Jatra, begun in 1756 under Jaya Prakash Malla, draws the living goddess Kumari through the city in a chariot with Ganesh and Bhairava.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered
Worth knowing
Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Kathmandu on the day of Indra Jatra in 1768. Since 2012 an all-women team has pulled the Kumari's chariot on the third day.
Its foundation by King Gunakamadeva to mark the founding of Kathmandu is traditional.
Connections (3)
- Located atKathmandu Durbar Square
Kathmandu Durbar Square is the main venue of Indra Jatra. The festival opens there with Yosin Thanegu, when a stripped tree trunk dragged in stages from a forest near Nala, 29 kilometres east, is raised as the pole bearing Indra's banner. The Kumari's chariot procession sets out from and returns to Basantapur, the great mask of Sweta Bhairava is displayed in the square, and a tableau of Vishnu's ten incarnations is staged nightly on the temple steps in front of the Kumari's house.
- Traditional linkKathmandu
Indra Jatra is unique to the Kathmandu Valley, and tradition holds that King Gunakamadeva began it to commemorate his founding of Kathmandu, placed by the festival's own history in the tenth century. Its processions follow the old city's routes through Asan, Indra Chowk and Kilagal, and its butter-lamp rite for the year's dead traces the edge of the historic town. The festival's hold on the city was such that Prithvi Narayan Shah chose the day of Indra Jatra in 1768 to attack Kathmandu.
- Associated withBhaktapur Durbar Square
Indra Jatra is observed in Bhaktapur as well as in Kathmandu, but with its own cycle of rites. Bhaktapur does not centre the festival on the Kumari's chariot or the raising of the Yosin pole; instead its eight days focus on Yama Dyah, Yamata, the Indrayani Jatra, Mupatra and Pulu Kisi, and end with bathing and worship at the Siddha Pokhari tank. The two versions show the valley's former royal cities keeping separate ritual calendars for one shared festival.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Indra Jatra", "Malla dynasty (Nepal)".
Open Indra Jatra in the repository →