Bisket Jatra
The story of Bisket Jatra, in which the people of Bhaktapur, freed from the practice of keeping night watch, raise the lingo.
Bisket Jatra
In the royal palace of Bhaktapur, whoever kept the night watch would be found mysteriously dead by morning.
Once, when it was the turn of an elderly couple, a daring young stranger who had come as a guest to their house resolved to keep the watch in their place. Holding a sword in his hand, he stayed awake all night.
At midnight, while the queen lay asleep, two tiny poisonous snakes came out from the two nostrils of her nose, turned into huge serpents, and moved forward to bite the watchman. That alert young stranger, with a single stroke of his sword, cut off the heads of both snakes.
In the morning everyone celebrated, seeing the watchman alive and the two terrifying snakes killed. Saying 'bisyat' (the snakes were killed) in Newari, raising a tall lingo as a symbol of the two snakes, and pulling the chariot of Bhairav at the new year, the tradition of celebrating 'Bisket Jatra' began.
Note: These are traditional Nepali folk tales (kimbadanti), passed down orally through generations. They may or may not reflect actual historical events, but they are told and believed as part of Nepal's cultural heritage.
Related stories
More from Festivals and the threads this story shares.