The Month of the Swasthani Vrata
As we have noted in the last chapter, the term "vrata " is often used in South Asia for any calendrically prescribed religious activity, but it has a stronger sense of "religious or ascetic observance taken upon oneself, austerity, vow, rule, holy work, such as fasting and continence" (Mac-
donnell 1974, 304). Noting that Nepalese calendrical events can be sorted into jatra s, mela s, and vrata s in this stronger sense, Bouillier (1982) has noted that among upper-caste Indo-Nepalese while participation m jatra s and mela s is "collective," vrata s may be individual, and done at home. She notes that those calendrical events special to women are vrata s "performed for the most part discretely within the family group" (1982, 91). Traditionally in South Asia vrata s, in contrast to many other forms of worship, were proper to persons of all caste levels as well as to women (Kane 1968-1977, vol. V, p. 51), but Kane notes that the Puranas[*] and digests of ritual procedures prescribe several vrata s that were specifically to be performed by women. Although there are differences in the participation of Newar and Indo-Nepalese women in festivals, Bouillier's remarks have some relevance for Bhaktapur. Thus, while men do participate in vrata s in Bhaktapur, the city's major special annual event special to women is a vrata , the Swasthani (Sanskrit, svasthani ) Vrata.
Pohelathwa and Sillathwa, the two lunar fortnights in January and February that begin on the day following Chyala Punhi, constitute one of a number of two-fortnight periods in Bhaktapur's annual calendar devoted as a whole to some special theme and activities. Within such periods some specific calendrical events may be connected to the theme, but others that occur may be independent of it. These four weeks are the period of the Swasthani Vrata. This is an important festival month for the women of the Kathmandu Valley of various ethnic groups. It has been studied at length by Linda Iltis with a focus on participation by Newar women (1985) and by Lynn Bennett as an aspect of her study of Chetri women in the Valley (1977, 1983). The vrata is based on a group of legends (Swasthani Vrata Katha : See B. M. P. Sharma [1955]),[15] which combines various traditional stories about Siva, Sati, and Parvati. The oldest known manuscript of this collection is in Newari (Iltis 1985, 8):
The Sri Swasthani Vrata Katha text is a compilation of 29-33 stones, some of which are unique versions of Puranic[*] stones popular in Hindu communities throughout South Asia, as well as others which are unique local legends which concern people and places m the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and explain the origins and benefits in rituals honoring the Goddess Swasthani.
Rooted in Newar language and culture, the worship of Swasthani has spread to other ethnic groups and cultures in Nepal via the trade networks of the Newars, and primarily through Newar scribes. . . . The Sri Swasthani
Vrata Katha text has been translated into Nepali, Hindi and perhaps Maithili.
The text is read aloud in successive portions, one each evening, in households in Bhaktapur in its Newari version. It is read traditionally by men, but its message, as Lynn Bennett emphasizes for the Chetris, is directed to women. Before turning to the actions of the Swasthani Vrata, something should be said of the text which is summarized in Bennett (1983, 274-306). The text deals with themes and especially conflicts of romantic love and arranged marriage; of sexuality and marriage; of sexual passion, jealousy, faithfulness, and duty; and of the transformation of a man, in this case Siva, from self-absorption to social usefulness through marriage. In the course of the stories, Parvati, the central human-like protagonist, must deal with these conflicts. She is able to get Siva, the man she loves, as husband through devotion and works (vrata ) dedicated to Swasthani (an appellation of the transcendent form of the Goddess), but it is her proper social behaviour, "her attention to the details of the ritual, her distribution of alms, and above all, her religious devotion [which are] stressed along with her asceticism" (Bennett 1983, 224). Bennett sums up the significance of Parvati in the Swasthani stories and their associated rituals (and in general) (ibid., 272f.):
The many contradictory elements which go into the Devi's role as perfect wife and mother are [now] apparent: she must be both sensual and ascetic: flirtatious and faithful; fertile and yet utterly pure. In the myths about her gentle aspects—most notably as Parvati—the goddess is all these things. She represents an ideal, a blending of opposing qualities which actual village women can never fully achieve. . . . In Hindu mythology [Parvati] . . . is the impossibly perfect model, embodying the contradictory values of Hinduism particularly as they affect women in Hindu patrilineal social structure. This, I maintain, is why the gentle side of the goddess is especially important to village women.
Like Durga, of course, Parvati is worshiped and greatly revered by both men and women. But, lust as men are largely responsible for the worship of Durga and more conversant than women with the texts about her, women are more involved with the rituals and texts concerning Parvati and the other gentle forms of the goddess.
Although Swasthani is the Goddess as full creative deity, in accordance with the emphasis on Parvati as the ideal woman centrally located in the social and moral world the festival is devoted to the ordinary deities, and in the stories and in the symbolic enactments, it is Parvati's
conventional relations to the benign male deities Siva and Visnu[*] that are emphasized. The events of this month are not part of the Devi cycle. We may note here that among other valley Hindu groups there is another very important women's festival connected with the Swasthani stories, Tij, which is not observed by the women of Bhaktapur (see section on miscellaneous minor events [52-58], below).
During this month the general Valley pattern is followed. Successive sections of the Swasthani Vrata Katha are read in the household each evening during the month. Girls and women past the Ihi ceremony, and, for those who had had a "social marriage" whose husbands are still living,[16] will take part in the other ceremonies, the vrata s themselves. These "married" girls and women (in some, but not all thar s) may wear red sari s, the color of marriage sari s, during this period. Some of them fast by not eating meat. They worship Siva, usually as a linga[*] ,[17] both at home and at various designated tirthas at the riverside. While a majority, perhaps, of women remain in Bhaktapur and do not participate in the major valley pilgrimages of the period, many women do participate in the valley-wide mela (described in detail in Iltis [1985]). The motives for womens' religious activities during the period are said to be ones similar to those Bennett (1983, 276) has noted for valley Chetri women—for example, for married women, to protect their households and their husbands; for unmarried girls, to help ensure a good husband in the future.[18]
Men in Bhaktapur also participate in the festival, but what was reported as having previously been daily participation had diminished greatly by the time of this study. The foci of the men's worship were Visnu[*] and Siva, important actors in the Swasthani story. On each day of the month men would go in groups, following a leader, to bathe in the river and then on to the city's main Visnu[*] and Siva temples to do puja . The leader of the group would call out the names of Visnu[*] and his avatar s and the various names of Siva, and the men in the group, carrying banners, would chant "Hari Madya:" ("Hari" is one of the appellations of Visnu/Narayana[*] and "Madya:," that is, Mahadya:, the Great God, a major appellation of Siva.) The activities of the Swastani month end on the full-moon day, with the Madya: Jatra [14], which we will discuss below.