Indra Jatra: Panjaran daagin returns after 24 years, traditional jatras held in Bhaktapur and Thimi

This year's Indra Jatra in Kathmandu featured the panjaran daagin ritual after a gap of 24 years. In Newa Buddhist tradition, a person who completes the naran panjaran, or nine great donations, is honored as an equal of Indra and takes part as the daagin. This year, Purnakaji Dangol of Chamati completed the naran panjaran.

Among the donations, the samyak mahadaan is considered the greatest, followed in importance by the naran panjaran. According to Buddhist scholar Prof. Dr. Nareshman Bajracharya, the daagin's red mask represents the form of Indra.

In Bhaktapur, the fair at Indra Daha, also known as Siddha Pokhari, concluded after the idol of Indra was brought into the Indrayani deity house at Khauma. On the full moon day of Bhadra Shukla, visitors had bathed in the pond and worshipped Indra. According to historian Prof. Dr. Purushottam Lochan Shrestha, the idol was placed on a palanquin and paraded around the city.

In Madhyapur Thimi, 39-year-old Birendra Bhakta Gaju Shrestha of Balkumari performed the jatra by piercing his tongue for the fifth time. After karmi naike Babukaji Shrestha pierced his tongue with an iron needle, he walked barefoot from neighborhood to neighborhood carrying the mahadwip. He had previously undergone the tongue-piercing in 2074, 2079, 2081 and 2082 BS.

The roughly 350-year-old jatra has periodically been halted due to lack of funds. The event costs more than 600,000 rupees, most of which is borne by locals themselves, exceeding the support provided by the Bagmati provincial government and the municipality.