{{This article was originally posted on December 22, 2016. My posts were lost and after being found I am re-posting them.}}
Recently (6th-8th Dec) I visited Lung, Pyuthan, Mid-Western Region of Nepal for the Rijal Dewali. My in-laws are Rijals. They hail from Lung, Pyuthan and still form important figures of the 4 day festival that drew over 200,000 people this year.
Many will say that the puja is 2 days, but I beg to differ based on the oral history that is recited as chants by the Dhamis during the program. They say “Panchami awahan…… Asthami Puja” — that makes it a total of 4 days.
The Dewali is believed to have started by the Rijals of Lung 400 years ago and is a spectacle of events mainly on the 3rd and 4th, starting by the lighting of the traditional lamp at sundown, followed by karnal band, drums and 100s of Dhamis chanting mantras and bells. The Dewali program seems to revolve around bells with all the Dhamis wearing bells on their bodies as well as ringing of the bells continuously throughout the last 2 days.
The 4th day saw the Aalam procession, which for a distance of about 1 kilometers too the best part of 4 hours. Starting off with just a bamboo pole carried by a person, it slowly grew to a volume with all the red and white cloth placed by the devotees. The Aalam procession saw most of the Dhamis singing and dancing and was a spectacle to see.
Once the Aalam arrived at the Gaura, from its starting point of the Kulghar, puja was conducted at the Gaura and then the goat cutting began.
Few points that I noticed:
- There was very less or no use of tika material like Aabir, sindur, etc.
- Bells, bells and more bells everywhere
- Participation of whole communities, gender, caste, etc… It really stood for democracy
- History and the process of the festival was sung as incantations by the Dhamis
- Red and white color occupied all significance
My thinking — this puja seems to be somehow dedicated to wind.
Videos:
https://youtu.be/MUnn5TW167I — Start of the Puja (after Sundown) and early morning procession
https://youtu.be/OowaQclQC1k — Procession continues with trance and dance
https://youtu.be/AU0AhR_pSYs — Special dance. Salute to those who can guess what is the dance called and what the person who is wearing the special dress is called
Last video : https://youtu.be/y0VXckXouPg — son is shocked to realize that most of the Dhamis and Pujaris are his Grand-fathers.