Mystical and Complicated Kathmandu

On the trail to Namche Bazaar, Rajendra said, “Dashain was hard this year.” 
“What happened?” I asked.


“Well,” Rajendra said, “My parents live in a small village a long walk from Kathmandu. Two weeks ago, a snow-leopard killed their four goats. It was night time and they were sleeping. They heard the goats bleating and went outside. By the moon’s light, they saw three animals on the ground bleeding in a pen behind their house. The leopard was tearing into the fourth. When it heard my parent’s cries, it bounded over the pen’s fence. Rajendra shook his head. They were my family’s wealth and as the oldest son, I had to buy a goat for them.”

“Why did you have to buy a goat?” I asked. 


“Well, all Hindus must sacrifice a goat at Dashain.” he said. I thought of the children playing in the courtyard during the goat sacrifice, of how ragged their clothing was, that I hadn’t seen one toy in the city since arriving, not one child with even one toy. I wondered how these families could afford a goat.


Sensing my thoughts, Rajendra looked down at his hands. “Often poor families join together and purchase a goat. It’s a sign of status if families can sacrifice their own goat. That’s why I had to purchase a goat for my family -- so they could keep their status in our small village,”  he said. 


Here in Nepal, a status symbol is having a goat to sacrifice. Wow, I thought. Nepal is complicated. Kathmandu is too.  For me Nepal had been an ancient mystical country, shrouded in history, the steepest land in the world with the highest most exotic mountains. I saw Kathmandu as a place of the Gods nestled in a sacred valley. Until I landed in Kathmandu. What you see and feel there is crazy chaos – streets so choc a bloc with cars you can’t breathe or move and when they cars do it’s sometimes around cows chewing their cuds in the middle of the road.


And you feel religion. Especially during the festival of Dashain. Nepal is mostly Hindu along with Buddhism – especially in the Everest region, and also small numbers of Christians and Muslims. They all live peacefully together.  In the photos you’ll see gods decorated with red powder and flowers. You’ll see priests and temples. 


The photo below shows the Hindu lingam representing the endlass nature of the god Shiva. Some see the lingam as a symbol of the male phallus. I saw these odd little statues all over the place and finally asked Rajendra about them. “They are little gods,” he said.

The Hindu Lingam

This is a statue of the bull Nandi facing a temple. It is the Lord Shiva’s vehicle and guards the temple door. He also represents sexual energy and controlled power.

Nandi

                                  Temples and Priests

On our second day in Kathmandu, Rajendra said,  "We're going to see a temple." But he didn't mention that we were going to see the crematorium by the Bagmati River.

We passed by the temple with the Shiva bull and kept on walking. Soon we were at the river. I looked across to the banks on the other side. The banks were lined with stone steps and hundreds of people receiving blessings for their dead relatives. (in the photo below, look down to the left of the monkey.) If you look closely, you can see an orange flame. The square boxes hold the bodies. It's difficult to see the bodies burning. I didn't want to approach out of respect. 

Our customs here are so different. We would never (at least I don't know that we would) be witness to the cremation of our relatives.

The Crematorium

"What is happening here?" I asked Rajendra. He said that according to the Nepalese Hindu tradition, the dead body must be dipped three times into the Bagmati river before cremation. The chief mourner, who usually is the first son, lights the funeral pyre and takes a holy river-water bath after the cremation. 

Families of the Dead Receiving Blessings
by the Banks of the Bagmati River

Shrines and Gods of Kathmandu

A fierce-some God

 Many Gods take the form of animals. So for visitors these "Gods" look frightening and odd. But people worship these representations.  

The three flat sculptures here are actually Hindu shrines.
You can see flowers and shades of red powder placed daily by worshipers.

  

Although Kathmandu is mostly Hindu, here you can see
Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags

Kids playing a game

A priest maybe?

Procession

A bull lying in the middle of the street

An ancient entrance

A bright shrine

Workers in Kathmandu

As I thought back to Kathmandu, I also remembered that we were in the midst of a Maoist insurgency, that my insurance company wouldn't guarantee helicopter evacuation from the mountains because there was a travel advisory on the country. Yikes.

Upcoming  blog posts  “In the midst of the Maoist Uprising”

                                            "Our porter Chhiring Sherpa"