Minor Festivals of Visnu^[*] [41-43] and the Beginning of the Caturmasa Vrata

The bright fortnight Dillathwa (June/July) includes three events related to Visnu^[*] . On the second day of the month is the Jagana God Jatra [41]. Jagana (Jagannatha) is an avatar of Visnu^[*] , usually thought of as a form of Krsna^[*] . For Bhaktapur this is a very minor city jatra The jatra image of Jagana God from the temple of Jagannatha near the Durbar Square is carried around the city by a small group of people, and the pujari of the temple must perform special worship on that day. (Minor.)

The eleventh day of Dillathwa, the ekadasi —which is in all fortnights special to Visnu^[*] —is of differentiated importance in this fortnight. it is called, as everywhere in South Asia, "Hari Sayani [42]," Visnu's^[*] sleeping." It is on this day that Visnu^[*] begins his four-month cosmic sleep, from which he will awaken on the ekadasi of Kachalathwa four months later, on the day of Hari Bodhini [4], "Visnu's^[*] awakening," in the following lunar year. This ekadasi marks the beginning of a four-month vrata called "Caturmasa," the "four months." Gaborieau (1982), who gives this period critical importance in his account of the structure of the Indo-Nepalese calendar, remarks that for Hindus the Caturmasa is considered an inauspicious period within which, for example, initiation and marriages, and worship for the protection of the village and lineage cannot take place.

For Bhaktapur the special status of this period of Visnu's^[*] sleep is not salient in the annual festival cycle. Other major deities in Hindu tradition leave the world to sleep at various times, also typically for four months. For Bhaktapur the annual departure of the Nine Durgas at Bhagasti seems to be a more critical marker of transition, as are the events in the autumnal harvest festival that lead to their rebirth. The Caturmasa period is, however, of Sanskritic importance to people of the upper thar s. Individuals may decide to perform a vrata during the period, as is the case in all vrata s in fulfillment of a vow or in hope of some good result. Typically people may alter their diets—renouncing meat or salt, eating once a day, or eating from special leaves rather than dishes for the period of the vrata . They may do special worship, including elaborate puja s, to Visnu^[*] during the period. During Caturmasa Brahman storytellers tell stories about Visnu^[*] in the public squares.^[33]

The twelfth day of the fortnight, also devoted to Visnu/Narayana^[*] , is Tulasi Piye Day [43], the day of the planting (piyegu ) of the tulasi plant. Tulasi , a variety of basil, is a plant that has various mythic meanings in Hindu tradition, but which here has its major meaning as representing

Visnu^[*] . On this day people everywhere in the city plant tulasi seedlings in small clay pots, using one pot for each person in the household. If the plant dies during the next month, that is a sign that the individual whom it represents may experience some misfortune. During this period people pray to the plant as Visnu/Narayana^[*] , and after watering it take back a bit of water from one of the leaves and drink it as prasada . Some upper-status people put a bit of gold in the holes in which the seedlings are placed as part of the offering. Although it is only the duration of the first month that is significant as an omen, the plants are kept alive as long as possible. After they die, the leaves are kept for use in death ceremonies, where the leaves represent Visnu^[*] as "Tulasi Narayana^[*] ." They are joined with pindas^[*] , representations of deceased ancestors, during the ceremonies. The day in itself is a minor event.