Protectors of Local Space, Chetrapal and Pikha Lakhu

Everywhere in Bhaktapur are natural stones, some lying flat, some protruding from the ground, which are identified as "area protectors," chetrapals , from the Sanskrit ksetra^[*]pala , a guardian of a field or place, or, within the realm of divinities, a "tutelary deity of the fields" (Macdonnell 1974, 79). These are popularly called chelpa gods. They are found near all dya: che(n) (god-houses), all Aga(n) che(n) (the special houses for upper-status thar s' Tantric lineage deities), near many private houses, and near or within the grounds of many temples. Each twa: or important sub-twa: has its own central twa: chetrapal . The various chetrapals are regarded as distinct individual divinities, and may have local names. Some of the chetrapals in public city spaces are identified with Bhairava or Kumari. In theoretical discussion all chetrapals are said to be a "kind of Bhairava," following a general South Asian association of such area protectors with Bhairava, or with a "portion of Siva" (cf. Stutley and Stutley 1977, 153; Mani 1974, 434). Some chetrapals have a yantra , or "mystic diagram" engraved on them—a lotus, a triangle, a six-pointed double triangle, or a more elaborate Sri yantra —but others are left uncarved. Chetrapals protect the nearby structure or the area around themselves from thieves, from illness, and from misfortune caused by evil spirits. They are the kind of divinity (typical of the dangerous divinities) that can cause trouble if inadvertently neglected or

mistreated, and can thus in themselves cause illness or misfortune. Tantric physicians will sometimes ascribe illness to the inadvertent stepping on, spitting on, or otherwise offending some chetrapal . The major chetrapals in each twa: must be given offerings of food by each household at the finish of major household feasts. Some households make an optional additional offering before the beginning of the feast. Chetrapals protecting god-houses and Aga(n) houses may also be offered food offerings in conjunction with feasts in honor of the particular deity whose house they protect. Sometimes people worship local chetrapals in hopes of propitiating an offended chetrapal or curing or preventing some misfortune. The major areal and neighborhood chetrapals are sometimes covered with a decorative honorific canopy and smeared with colored pigments.

Several of the chetrapal have particular legends associated with them. Two are of general city importance. One is associated with the Bhairava who inhabits the cremation grounds. Another, called "Swatuña Bhairava," is of importance as the spot where the power of the goddess Taleju is transferred to the Nine Durgas performers at the beginning of their annual cycle (chap. 15). We will discuss these two figures further in the next section.

There is a kind of aniconic stone divinity that is sometimes regarded as a kind of chetrapal and sometimes as an independent and different form that is of considerable importance for symbolic action. This is a stone placed in front of the main door of every house, between that door and the road (chap. 7). This is called the pikha lakhu ("pikha " has the sense of moving or depositing something "outside"; "lakhu " [lakhu in Kathmandu Newari] is an old Newari word for path or road). This stone, embedded in the ground, may have been found there, but usually is brought from somewhere else during the construction of the house. It is usually engraved with the same kinds of figures sometimes carved on chetrapals . It is sometimes theoretically identified as Kumara, thought of as Ganesa's^[*] brother, a god who has little significance in Bhaktapur. In its use, the pikha lakhu , popularly called the pila laki god, is in each of its locations an individual god in itself. This stone marks the point in front of the main entrance, which locates an imaginary line at some distance from its actual external walls, separating its symbolic interior from the exterior public space. We have noted in chapter 7 something of the uses of that boundary.

Finally, the chwasas , the stones marking major crossroads whose principal functions ally them to the group of pollution-disposing stone

divinities that we shall consider in the next section, are also sometimes secondarily considered as area protectors, and thus as chetrapals .