Sithi Nakha is celebrated on the sixth day of the bright fortnight of Jestha (May/June). This day marks the beginning of the planting season in Nepal and is a designated day for cleaning wells, tanks, stone spouts, and ponds to propitiate Basundhara, Mother Earth. This festival falls on a pre-monsoon day when water levels in wells and ponds are at their lowest point which makes cleaning easy.  In ancient times, every citizen of the town, regardless of caste, had to take responsibility for cleaning the community water system. Anyone who failed to complete his assigned section by Sithi Nakha Day was duly punished. These water bodies are considered the abodes of The Nagas, serpent deities. It is believed that at this time of year, those Nagas (like humans) are away from their abodes performing their own Dewali (worship at their ancestral lands), providing perfect timing for cleaning these wells and ponds. During the cleaning process, the glittering mineral called mica found abundantly in the valley soil is tossed into the well as offerings to the Nagas. Dewali mostly native to Newars is elaborated worship of one’s family deities or gods of their forefathers called Digu Deya, which is followed by a huge feast. People from the same clan gather at an open field to worship their Digu Deya where it is located in an aboriginal condition. By the day of Sithi Nakha, Dewali Puja must be completed. Another tradition was that all construction should be completed by Sithi Nakha Day lest calamity usually coming in the form of monsoon rains ruin the project.

Kumar Sashthi: The Birthday of Warrior – God Kumar

Kumar Sashthi or Kumar’s Sixth Day, this sixth day of the bright fortnight of Jestha Month is also celebrated as a birthday of the handsome valiant young Warrior-God Kumar. Kumar who is identified as Kartik also is the son of Mighty Lord Shiva and Parbati and brother of Elephant head God Ganesh. He courses through the skies on his glide peacock. Demons by virtue of having practiced abnormally severe penances, abstinence and prolonged spiritual meditations accumulate such religious merit and powerful boons that they become invincible—mightier than the gods themselves. These demons ousted Lord Indra, the King of Heaven from his throne. He then called an assembly of the gods where Lord Bishnu predicted only the advent of a savior, born to Lord Shiva can save them from this disgrace. 

Agni, the God of Fire, with an urgent plea of assistance, disguised as common religious mendicant heads to Kailash, Shiva’s abode, only to find out that the great Lord Shiva bedded with his consort Parbati. Agni losing his patience after an interminably long wait burst into the bed-chamber interrupting the divine couple’s love-making. Shiva wild with rage rose up to reduce the already mortified Fire God to ashes with his powerful flame from the Third Eye. Parbati pleaded her husband to not to commit the cardinal sin of mistreating a religious mendicant. Then Shiva, still burning with anger, ejected a hand of fiery semen into the beggar’s cupped palms which Agni as a devout Hindu gulped it down. The Fire God’s stomach scorched by the divine sperm vomited it into the Holy Ganges, of which the baby Kumar was born. Kumar was reared by the Mother Ganges and was trained by father Shiva for war along with Ganesh when he grew to manhood. Therefore, eventually, when Kumar led the divine forces of the gods, the demon hordes were completely annihilated, Gods got back their places and Indra was reseated on his heavenly throne. Hence, Kumar ranks high in the Hindu pantheon. On Sithi Nakha day people still reprise the battle in many villages, they form two groups and pelt stones at each other. Many years ago, during the Malla regime, the reenactment of battle was a serious matter, the defeats were sacrificed to Goddess Kali. One of the Malla rulers allegedly had a dream of God Skadaswami where He told King if he assembled boys and establish the custom of stone-throwing battle at Goddess Kankeswari Kali’s temple on the Bishnumati River below Kathmandu, his subjects would never revolt and his enemies would be destroyed. The King followed and ordered the vanquished to be slaughtered as offerings to Goddess Kankeshwari. Later this dangerous custom was abolished by Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana in 1870 when a British Resident Colvin as a spectator was struck by a flying stone Newars of Kathmandu Valley worship Kumar as a symbol of lotus made inside a red circle traced on the ground purified by cow dung and red mud in front of the main doorway.  The six petals of lotus signify Kumar as;

1. The one who illuminates the world removes ignorance
2. The one grants boons to his devotees
3. Protects the fire sacrifice
4. Reveals the knowledge of self
5. Destroys evil demons
6. Looks lovingly upon the face of his bride.

And within this sacred symbol, devotees offer Kumar six types of cakes, six types of bread, six types of vegetables, six types of grains and six types of sweets. Children run around the streets with lotus-shaped miniature paper windmills, which is again a symbol of the end of the evil times and the ushering in of righteousness era. These windmills are often fixed on rooftops to spin in the breeze. The procession of Lord Kumar happens on the seventh day of the waxing moon, the next day of his birth, when devotees, with baskets of offerings, throng in thousands to Kumar-Kartikey temple near Jaisidewal, north-west Kathmandu. The gilt roofed palanquin bearing the Kumar Idol is hoisted by Bhakta-Newar-Clan because Kumar is the ancestral Dewali deity of theirs. The joyful procession of thousands, manoeuvres through crammed streets of Kathmandu led by happy musicians beating drums and clanging cymbals. While one man twirls a heavy umbrella symbolizing paramountcy above the shrine. After a long hour procession, the idol is installed back to his temple for another year and happy farmers disperse to prepare for the planting season. REFERENCE

• Both the photos by Suprice Shakya.