A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Aug. 28: Janai Purnima is being celebrated on Friday by paying homage to Lord Shiva, changing the janai (sacred thread), tying yellow and red threads around the wrists, and eating Kwati, a soup prepared from nine different types of beans.
Janai Purnima is one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus.
First, people take a holy bath early in the morning and wear the sacred thread. The second ritual involves sisters offering Rakshya Bandhan by tying a sacred thread around their brothers’ right wrists as a symbol of protection. People also eat Kwati on the occasion. The red and yellow threads are purified through the chanting of mantras by priests and are considered a symbol of protection from diseases.
Men from the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya varnas (social groups) change their janai after shaving their heads and taking a bath.
Normally, the sacred thread is worn diagonally from the left shoulder to the right waist, across the chest, while the wearer chants the Gayatri Mantra.
People also have yellow and red threads tied around their wrists by Brahmins as a form of protection for the whole year. The festival is considered sacred throughout the country and beyond, and is observed in different ways by different communities.
Janai Purnima is also called Rishi Tarpani because Tagadhari Hindus offer tarpan (ritual offerings) to seven sages, including Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Gautama, Jamadagni, Vishwamitra and Arundhati.
The festival is popularly known as Gumpunhi among the Newar community.
The Newar community celebrates the day during the Gunla month and calls it Gumpunhi. On the day, statues of Dipankar Buddha and other related figures are displayed at Bahal Vihar in the inner areas of the Kathmandu Valley.
Every festival is associated with special food. Kwati is a special delicacy that is added to the Nepali menu on the occasion of Janai Purnima.
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