Sukhu(n) Bhisi(n)dya: Jatra [8]

This jatra begins on the fourteenth day of the waning lunar fortnight Kaulaga and ends on the last day, the fifteenth, the day of the new moon. It is special to Bhaktapur, and honors Bhimasena (in Newari, Bhisi[n] God), the special protective deity of Bhaktapur's tradesmen and shopkeepers. An image of the deity taken from the main Bhimasena temple in Dattatreya Square is carried part way around the city on the main festival route, the pradaksinapatha^[*] . During the jatra procession straw mats—sukhu(n )—and piles of straw are burned along the route "to keep Bhisi(n)dya: warm." There are various legends about Bhimasena, one of the heroes of the Mahabharata epic, which are used to explain this and other details of the festival. The image is left in a protected shrine along the side of the festival route during the first night, and the procession proceeds around the remainder of the route the fol-

lowing morning. Shopkeepers and tradesmen perform sacrifices (most often of a male goat) to Bhimasena on these days and have bhwae , formal feasts, at their homes. These are nakha cakha , which include phuki members in addition to the household members, and the phuki ’s married-out women are invited. This jatra , then, is special to Bhaktapur, uses the main festival route, and involves all of Bhaktapur as a spatial unit, but concerns only one of its social components, the "sahu ," tradesmen and shopkeepers. It is the first of the year's important annual festivals taking place within the city to focus on a dangerous deity, and to entail blood sacrifice. It is the first important festival of the year to make use of—in its jatra aspect—the public civic space. (Moderate.)