When the Dussehra festival finishes in other parts of the country it starts in the Kullu Valley (see Dussehra 2002 article). Devis and Devtas (local village deities) come to the capital of Kullu district to stay for a week. We watch one God idol after the other trundling up the narrow lanes of Sultanpur (the capital of the former Kullu Kingdom); these God statues are carried on palanquins by villagers accompanied by their boisterous village bands. They go to the Ragunath Temple to pay their respects to God Ragunathji, who represents another form of God Ram (see Ramayana in brief) and who is the chief God in the Valley. After having stopped at the nearby Rupi Palace, the residence of the Kullu Raja (King) and his family, they head down to the main mela (festival) ground at Dahlpur, where there are tents for the Devtas (deities) and villagers.

05/10/03 afternoon - Rath Yatra in Dahlpur

We go to the Dahlpur ground where Ragunath's Rath (chariot) is parked, decorated in green and orange cloth. The Rath is an old wooden construct and looks according to Woody a bit like a "garden shed on wheels". We are a bit late - all the standing places with a good view over the coming ceremony are already taken by more patient people than us, who don't seem to mind waiting at the same spot for 2 hours or more. Some Gods arrive, drop in at the adjacent Bir Nath Temple and line up and wait next to Ragunath's Rath. Eventually the Raja and his special horse arrive. At some point Ragunath's small statue is taken towards the main mela ground, escorted by police or guards in ceremonial dress. Then suddenly commotion: Naag Dumbal Devta (snake God from Halan village) carried by villagers on his palki, comes charging through the crowds taking the same route as Ragunath's small statue. A few minutes later ropes attached to Ragunath's Rath are pulled by hundreds of people; it starts rolling towards us, God statues pop up over the heads of thousands of people accompanying the Rath, a huge cloud of dust rises above everything.

06/10/03 Dussehra bazaar

The main mela ground is packed with hundreds of stalls, most of which sell cheap clothes. I am chuffed with my new thick woollen 60 Rupee jumper. The noise of the market is deafening, everywhere vendors, standing on tables amongst their stuff, shouting "Ek sau, ek sau, ...", "Das rupya, das rupya, ..." etc ("One hundred, one hundred, ...", "Ten rupees, ten rupees, ..."). Apart from jumpers, jackets, jeans, shirts, bras, shoes, trousers, punjabi suits etc there are stalls of kitchen ware, clay pots, bangles (bracelets), cheap jewellery, books, trinkets and so on. A part of the National Highway NH21 is blocked for traffic during the Dussehra festival, to accommodate all the visitors plus yet more stalls selling traditional Kullu shawls, pattus (local blanket dress) and Kullu caps. Additionally there are a load of temporary restaurants on one end and stalls offering deep fried snacks including excellent pakora and nice sickly sweet jalebis on the other.

07/10/03 puja (prayer) at Ragunathji's tent

The statue of Ragunath is staying in a tent on the market ground for this week. It's quite relaxing to just sit there and listen to women chanting. Every morning at about 11 am to 12 am the Raja and Pujari hold a puja (worship/ prayer). Since I am fairly ignorant about Hindu religious ceremonies or rituals it's all rather meaningless and incomprehensible for me: The Pujari and some other men burn a very small fire under a canopied area, then mix some of the ash in a tiny bowl with water, flower petals and spoon something else into it. Then this "solution" is dabbed onto their forehead and both ears, presumably to purify themselves. After that the proper puja (worship) starts; walking around the God idol, murmuring mantras or prayers, offering flowers. Somebody walks through the people with a plate of lit candles. Worshippers wave their hands first over the flames then over their faces and heads (symbolically washing themselves in the light of knowledge).

08/10/03 mulinationals and cattle

Like last year there are a few big tents in the main bazaar filled with stalls of multinational companies, displaying and selling techy equipment. We have a wander through all the washing machines, hi-fi, stereos, television sets, toasters, gas heaters etc. Here we also find our "beloved" book-cum-kiddies-tape stall from last year which used to drive us crazy by playing the same torturous "learn-the-alphabet-song" over and over again: "ABC ... XYZ sugar on the bread." A bit further along, tugged to the side of the temporary bus stand in Dahlpur (operational only during Dussehra) is the cattle market; local women make good money by selling massive bundles of hay to the cattle owners.

09/10/03 Raja's afternoon procession

The other day we caught the tail end of a small procession of a few Devtas (Gods) and the Raja (King) carried on a lush palanquin. When we asked some very helpful police men they told us that this procession takes place every afternoon, starting from the Raja's tent on the main mela ground at about 4 pm (Indian rubber time). Today we are there to watch them set out: about 5 God idols with golden umbrellas carried on their palkis (palanquins), in-between the Raja who sits in his palanquin (looking quite bored). The whole procession is led by the King's special horse and its sevak (special caretaker or groom), followed by the bands playing their various instruments like karnali and narshinga trumpets, dhol and gnara drums. The procession leads over the roads, basically once around the mela ground, causing major traffic jams. It goes past the big canopied area where most of the Sadhus or Babas (Indian wandering holy men or ascetics) have set up camp; through the camping area of some Devtas and Devis (village Gods and Goddesses), past the Kala Kendra (the amphitheatre where cultural shows take place), through the small Dahlpur ground which is during the Dussehra festival used for volleyball competitions. The Raja stops briefly at Hadimba Devi's (Manali's Goddess) camp site and heads back towards his tent.

10/10/03 Devtas go "ghumna-pirna"

If it was relatively quiet the past few days, today it is certainly not. Drums and trumpet noise everywhere, crowds of people, in-between always a God idol or two squeezing through masses of people. They go "ghumna-pirna" ("roaming about"), saying hello and good-bye to Devi and Devta friends - since tomorrow is the last day. Himachal Pradesh's Chief Minister Virbadhra Singh visits the Kala Kendra theatre in the evening to watch the daily cultural show. Unfortunately he comes with his entourage of 20 or more cars through the main mela road - the part of National Highway NH21 which is normally blocked for traffic during Kullu Dussehra - which is crowded enough without all these "important cars" and becomes unbearably packed now.

11/10/03 morning - packing up

It's time for packing up: the tents the God idols stayed in for the past week (mostly provided by the Dussehra committee) are packed away. For hundreds of years each Devta and Devi (village deities) had his/her designated camping spot for Dussehra, which never changes. They will be back here next year. The villagers who stayed with their Gods in the tents pack away their cooking gear, bedding and other stuff. It's an amazing sight to see all the God idols uncovered, standing (and waiting for the finishing ceremony) under open sky, their "mores" (silver face masks) glinting in the sun. I want to drop some photographs at the Sadhus' tent, but unfortunately none of the Sadhus (also called Babas) I took pictures of last year are here for this year's Dussehra. Apparently the Baba who showed me around last year went mad and is not a Sadhu anymore.

11/10/03 afternoon - time for the gods to say good-bye

We head down to the bazaar, or the main mela ground, where the last day's "Rath Yatra" (travel of the Rath or chariot) is to take place. Lots of stalls had been moved to the side to make way for a big broad, free (and dusty) path. Gods are lining up near Ragunath's Rath, flag carriers start moving, then a sudden start, ropes of the Rath are being pulled, shouting, God idols on their palkis (palanquins) wobbling precariously from side to side and charging down the hill, people are being pushed to the side - including us; Woody ends up sitting on some cups of the stall behind us - the stall holder is not pleased. While Ragunath's Rath waits around the bus stand, several animals including a buffalo are being sacrificed for Manali's Goddess Hadimba Devi on the path leading down to the river. Afterwards Rath and Gods go back up the hill through the mela ground to the taxi stand Dahlpur ground, where the Devis and Devtas are ceremoniously bid farewell.

12/10/03 it's not all over yet

After yesterday's hectic all is relatively quiet. The religious ceremonies are over. A very few last Devtas and Devis (village Gods and Goddesses) left this morning (the vast majority left yesterday). The tinsel decoration of the main mela road (blocked off NH21) has already been taken down; so have most of the exhibition stalls which had displayed info about injustices to the Tibetan people, hydro projects, solar cookers, local produce (apples, barley, millet) etc. Commercial activities will go on though for another 2 weeks or so: clothes and other stuff from the Dussehra market are in high demand; the carousels and ferris wheels of the fair ground keep turning. After a last wander through the market and a last plate of tikki (potato cakes with chickpea sauce) both of us have definitely had enough of crowds and dust.

Kirsten oct 2003	<< previous next>>
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