Dashain, the longest and the most auspicious Hindu festival in the Nepali calendar, celebrated by the Nepalese of all caste and creed is being celebrated in Nepal and almost all over the world where Nepalese are living.
Dashain is the longest and the most important festival of Nepal. Generally Dashain falls in late September to mid October, right after the monsoon season in Nepal. Dashain gets many different nick names as Dasara, Bada Dashain, Vijaya Dashain, Durga Puja, all of which mean the same thing, Dashain, a day of Victory over Demons.
According to the legend, the bloodthirsty Goddess, Durga conquered evils on the Dashain day. Huge amount of animal sacrifices take place during the festival in temples and in home to please the Goddess Durga.
The 15 days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon.
Dashain is celebrated with great rejoice, and Durga is worshiped throughout the country as the divine mother goddess.
The first day of Dashain is called Ghatasthapana, which literally means “setting up the pot”. On this day the kalash–holy water vessel–symbolising goddess Durga often with her image embossed on the side is placed in the prayer room.
The Ghatasthapana ritual is performed at a certain auspicious moment determined by the astrologers. At that particular moment the priest intones a welcome, requesting goddess Durga to bless the vessel with her presence
The first nine days signify the nine days of ferocious battle between Goddess Durga and Mahisasur. The 10th day is the day when Mahisasur was slain and the last five days symbolise the celebration of the victory with the blessing of the goddess.
Aussienepali.com Wishes all the Nepalese living here in Australia and all around the world a very very happy and prosperous vijaya dashami.
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October 1st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
NEPALI STUDENT KILLED IN TEXAS
I am once again deeply saddened, angered, dismayed and grieved with this news that we lost one more friend; I am finding it really hard to express myself. The frequencies of such news have been ever increasing. I find it an utmost urgent that we should spread this word to the younger generation back home that this country is not a bed or roses. If possible convince them to weigh their options around in their own country. Ashok Bhattarai who is the recent victim of this burglary/shoot out is not “no body” but he is a brother of entire Nepali community who are living abroad and trying to make their ends meet. We all arrive here thinking that this is the land of opportunity and it will make us a billionaire one day but see what happened.
Now his dreams are shattered and his parents’ hopes are devasted. What happened with him hurts me and it hurts me the most because I left my country a decade ago with similar hope and dreams and I could very well have been the guy behind that counter. We all know where we come from and how hard it is for us to survive in this foreign country. Let us all pray for him together and hope that such terrible news will never hit our media again. Let’s unite to make us hear. People who have succeeded to come here before our generations and own such places like 711, motels or Gas Stations use these innocent people like Ashok and pay him below minimum wage and get their work done.
Do you think the United States government is unaware of that, should not they do something? Ever worried about illegal immigrants in this country what I believe is that the government should go behind such employers and thoroughly investigate the employer so that they will not hire another new Nepali who lands in this country with hopes to change his life.
I know a lot of debate will spur with this but what if the United States provides student loan for qualified students; just like it does for the permanent resident “Green Card Holder”. I can assure you that if we are allowed to even apply for these Federal loans then we won’t be racking up our credit card bills and hence would rather concentrate on finishing up the schools than trying to work on such cheap risky places. I know most of the people who land in this country have never done any of the work that we end up doing here and we do pick such jobs, not by choice but by compulsion of circumstances.
While the Global economy is still in a mesh don’t you think the international society invests in future of these you people? Also it would be relevant to say that 80% of students who arrive here are already highly educated and any countries that are willing to invest in their future will surely get decent returns.
What do you say? Post your views and comments at http://blog.nayanepalnews.com/
October 1st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Pardon my atheism
The recent news that came from India where people overcrowded a temple and cause some structure to fail reminded of me something. Doesn’t this feel like we have heard about this one before? If your memory is hazy let me remind you all, does Bheri River’s suspension Bridge collapse in Western Nepal last year ring a bell. Yes, that’s what I am talking about. People believe that flocking stupidly to please the divine will secure a good position for them in their after death life. Let me not even get into what we as a Hindu religion believe in after life speculation (Swarga/Narka and what not).
I believe that people flocking into a temple or holy would have no sense other than calling for such calamities, needless to say creating a spot for terror targets. What happened in India and has been happening repeatedly in mosques or Iraq is one of the many self proclaimed yet subdued stupidities of human kind. What I mean here is that, there is no point in making a large crowd on one particular day of the year. I do visit Pashupati but not during the Shiva Ratri and I do go to “Ganesh Than” but I avoid Tuesdays. God on his or her best knowledge of the world does not know or care for a particular day. This Dashain Let’s leaves it to the crowds who likes to flock around to these holy shrines and let us sit home and enjoy the “Masu Chiuyra”. Talking of which remind me of many dashain that I have missed since 1997 and this one will be missed as well. What will I be doing this Dashain, Ooh lets see probably sit here in front of my computer browsing net and thinking about Ghorle Khasi ko Kaan and my family who at this point in time has managed to spread all over the continent.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
Bijaya Dashami ko samasta Nepali lai hardik mangalmaya shuvakamana.
Hope all nepalese will have a great time during this festive season.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Happy bijaya dashami to everyone. My best wishes.