Durga Puja

The sound of drums awoke me at first light. I stepped out onto the streets of the old city. Double lines of devotees file down the street, waiting to enter the multi-tiered pagoda Taleju temple. This is the 9th day of the ten day Durga Puja festival, when the great goddess, in all of her nine forms, is worshipped. The Taleju temple, the largest temple in Kathmandu to the goddess of many forms, is open on this one day of the year. On this day, devotees can get darshan (or viewing) of She who embodies shakti, power, energy and action. Devotees bring flowers, fruit, grains and incense as gifts to the goddess. But on the 8th and 9th days of the festival the principal gift is blood. The goddess has an insatiable thirst which must be satiated through the sacrifice of ducks and chickens; buffalo and goats.

Firecrackers sound and the kukri blade falls upon another animal's neck. Two men drag a headless buffalo away from the killing ground. Blood trails trickle down the streets. Sadhus pose for tourist photos. Guns police the heaving crowd. Much later, in the deep of evening, a small group of people carry the many Kumaris (living goddesses) who live in the Kathmandu valley to the temple. Although not the principal Kumari, who is feted on Indra Jatra, these other living goddesses, who are similarly adorned, are entitled to a private darshan of the great mother goddess. The Taleju temple gates are opened, the small group passes through, and is swallowed by the night.