{"id":21167,"date":"2024-07-25T03:53:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T03:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/?p=21167"},"modified":"2024-07-25T03:53:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T03:53:35","slug":"gahana-khojne-jatra-of-handigaon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/2024\/07\/25\/gahana-khojne-jatra-of-handigaon\/","title":{"rendered":"Gahana Khojne Jatra of Handigaon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEPAL, July 20, 2024 (Ask Me About Nepal): The annual festival of Gahana Khojne Jatra following the tradition of Goddess Tundal Devi and Her lost jewels kicks off with a grand procession of devotees carrying temple-like <em>khat<\/em>, a palanquin, with Tundal Devi\u2019s statue in it. Through Handigaun\u2019s winding streets, they weave their way, making stops at marked spots where town people make offerings to honor the Goddess. Umbrellas sway atop the pagoda-style khat, symbolizing reverence and protection. Throughout the procession musicians fill the air with the rhythmic beats of drums, the clash of cymbals and devotees dancing leading the procession to the Gahana Pokhara, the jewel pond. Amidst the lively sounds, devotees carry the khat into the pond, circling it thrice in a symbolic search for the lost jewels.<br><br>Once the ritual is complete, the khat is brought to the Dabali, where Mahalaxmi, Tundal Devi\u2019s sister, awaits. With ceremonial precision, Mahalaxmi\u2019s khat circles Tundal Devi three times before she is placed in the oldest Dabali of Handigaun, where she will reside for two days. After the ceremonies, offerings are sent to the Goddess Bhairavi in Nuwakot, a symbolic gesture signaling the recovery of the lost jewels. Yet, despite the ritual, the jewels remain elusive, mirroring the cyclical nature of the story. According to the fables, the three sisters \u2013 Mahalaxmi, Tundal Devi, and Bhairavi went on a celestial journey. They were drawn by the beauty of Handigaun\u2019s Gahana Pokhara pond, Tundal Devi loses her jewel when swimming, sparking the timeless tale of the Gahana Khojne Jatra (lit. In quest of lost jewels).<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/askmeaboutnepal.com\/gahana-khojne-jatra\/\n\">https:\/\/askmeaboutnepal.com\/gahana-khojne-jatra\/<br><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEPAL, July 20, 2024 (Ask Me About Nepal): The annual festival of Gahana Khojne Jatra following the tradition of Goddess,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21185,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions\/21185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hinduismtoday.com\/hpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}