By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Nepal’s biggest Hindu festival Dashain turned ugly Thursday with politics colouring traditional celebrations as the Maoist guerrillas began opposing King Gyanendra’s visit to a temple to worship the goddesses of power.
Hanumandhoka, the site of an ancient palace in the capital which is also the centre of Dashain worships, remained tense as Maoists and royalists gathered in large numbers anticipating a visit by the embattled king, who has been stripped of his role in all social, cultural and religious ceremonies by the new government of Nepal.
There was tight security as the king, accompanied by Queen Komal, arrived at the Dashainghar, the temple where special rites are conducted for the nearly fortnight-long festival.
Thursday marked the seventh day of the long Dashain festival with Fulpati, a ritual that symbolises the conquest of the Kathmandu valley more than two centuries ago by the king’s ancestor Prithvi Narayan Shah.
Six attendants from the Magar community, a tribe known for their valour during war, undertake a journey on foot from Gorkha, the ancient kingdom in western Nepal from where the king’s forefathers hailed, to the capital, carrying a festival offering.
The Fulpati, an offering of flowers and fruit, is blessed at the temple first. Then, per tradition, it is taken to the palace to bring luck and long life to the royal family.
However, this year, departing from the two-century old tradition, the holy offering went to the residence of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who has taken over the king’s social and religious roles after the fall of the royal government last year.
Also for the first time, the king and queen stayed away from a special function organised by the army. Instead, the prime minister went to the programme and was accorded the traditional cannon salute by the army.
Despite the changes, King Gyanendra, a devout follower of Hindu traditions, went to the Dashainghar in the evening to sacrifice a goat and worship the nine goddesses of power.
Though the king went as a commoner, he was still opposed by the Maoists, who are calling for the immediate abolition of monarchy.
Dozens of Maoist cadres gathered in the area to shout anti-monarchy slogans and asked the king to leave the country.
The king’s loyal supporters, however, rallied behind him, hailing his arrival and calling for the restoration of monarchy for peace and stability.
The king created a furore the last time he went to a public temple as well. The visit, though low-key, enraged the prime minister, who accused the king of trying to challenge the government, and ordered the number of royal palace guards to be halved.
However, the act earned Koirala severe criticism that he was trying to throttle the rights of the king to worship as an individual.
The controversial worship at the temple of Kumari, Nepal’s Living Goddess, also seemed to have brought luck to the beleaguered royal family.
Soon after the worship, a special parliament session that was called to determine the king’s fate, was put off twice due to continued squabbling between the ruling parties and the Maoists.