The Minor Festivals of Krsna^[*] (Holi) [16, 17]

Cillathwa, the bright fortnight of the following month (February/ March) includes a period—from the eighth day until the full-moon

day—which in the other Newar cities of the Valley as in South Asia in general is a time for major activities devoted to Krsna^[*] . In Bhaktapur the activities of the period are comparatively quite minor. The first day, the eighth, is called "Cir Swaegu" [16], which means "to erect a cir ," that is, a bamboo pole to which a banner of varicolored cloths has been attached. The practice, which gives its name to the day is, significantly, not done in Bhaktapur now (although it was, on the evidence of the name, probably done sometime in the past), although it is still done in Kathmandu (Anderson 1971, 250). In Bhaktapur the day simply introduces the week, but has no special activities of its own. In both Kathmandu and, even more so, in Patan Krsna^[*] is associated with major festivals. In Bhaktapur some of these are ignored, others given only minor importance. This is an example of the selection of deities and emphases that are open to each community.

In the period between the Cir Swaegu day and the full-moon day, called "Holi Punhi," some people go in processions around the city, and throw abhir , a red powder (app. 4). The men in these processions, few in number compared to the numbers participating in the city's major jatra s, are mostly from the Jyapu thar s. Their throwing of the powder is restrained in that they are, it is said, "afraid" to throw the abhir at men of superior thar status. This is in contrast to Anderson's account for elsewhere in the Valley that "the erection of the cir pole gives eight-day license to one and all to drench almost anyone he meets, including cows and dogs, with powder of the most brilliant vermilion" (1971, 251). She reports that the traditional license of the period was being brought under control in Kathmandu because it was becoming a public nuisance.

As we have argued previously in our discussion of Krsna^[*] and Rama as objects of bhakti , personal devotion, bhakti religion is antithetical to the traditional community organization that Bhaktapur's Hinduism helps constitute and support. Gopal Singh Nepali found some evidence in the phrasing of a folk song about it, that Holi (as the week-long period is called elsewhere) is a "culture trait introduced from outside [Nepal]" (1965, 338). Its popularity in Kathmandu and Patan, along with that of other Krsna^[*] festivals, may attest to a relative breaking away from traditional priestly Hindu civic organization at the time of its introduction in contrast to the more conservative and traditional Bhaktapur.

On the last day of the period, Holi Punhi, [17], or, as it is also called, Krsna^[*] Jatra, in Bhaktapur an image of Krsna^[*] that is kept in the Taleju

temple^[24] is carried around the city's main festival route. Not many people go out of their way to watch the procession. There are no other special activities on that day. (Both [16] and [17] are comparatively minor events in Bhaktapur.)