Culture

A palanquin containing the Phulpati has been send from the Dashainghar in Gorkha Durbar to be carried all the way to Hanumandhoka Durbar in Kathmandu. 

Phulpati is an assortment of flowers, leaves and fruits of different plants considered auspicious and it is anointed at the Dashain Ghar on the seventh day of the Bada Dashain festival.

The ritualistic shipment was given a send off from the Gorkha Dashainghar at the auspicious hour of 7.10 am by the Dashainghar's caretaker performing the associated Vedic rituals.

The Phulpati is carried to Kathmandu as per the Vedic rites to be anointed at the Dashain Ghar, Hanumandhoka Durbar in line with the time-honored tradition. 

The tradition traces its root from the time the then King of Gorkha, Prithvi Narayan Shah, started his rule from the Hanumandhoka Durbar in Kathmandu. From then onwards, a palanquin bearing the Phulpati is dispatched each year from Gorkha Dashainghar on the seventh day of the Bada Dashain festival, the biggest festival of the Nepalis.

The assistants of the Gorkha Durbar carry the Phulpati up to a place called Phulpati Chautara at Satipipal and from there it is carried up to Kathmandu.

At Hanumandhoka Durbar, the Gurujyuko platoon, the Nepal Army, the Nepal police, and high-ranking officials of Armed Police and civil service, the Asha Gurja team, band music, panchebaja, decorated kalsyoulis, and a procession along with cultural pageantry leave for Hanuman Dhoka from Jamal with the Phulpati.

It does not require auspicious hour to anoint the Phulpati into people's homes, said Prof Shree Krishna Adhikari, Chairperson of the Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Samiti (Nepal Calendar Determination Committee). 

Though the Dashain festival begins from Ghatasthapana the festival sees particular enthusiasm from the day of Phulpati. 

All government as well as private offices close down from today encouraging people to go back to their respective ancestral homes and take blessings from Durga Bhawani as well as their elders. - RSS