Bhimsen Linga Exhibition Marks Start of Chir Swoyagu Holi Festival in Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur. The Chir Swoyagu or Chirothan Holi festival began on Tuesday evening with the exhibition of the Bhimsen Linga, suspended in front of the Bhimsen temple at Dattatreya temple in Tachpal, Bhaktapur.

On the evening of the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Falgun, the Bhimsen Linga, which is a symbol of Bhimsen in Newari language (Lajja), is traditionally brought after being washed clean in Kamalpokhari pond. This linga, made from a wooden log, is three hands long and 30 inches in circumference. The custom is to wash it again in the Brahmayani river on the evening of the full moon.

It is a popular belief that the person who carries and washes the linga will be blessed with a son. After being washed clean in Kamalpokhari, two people carried the linga on their shoulders and paraded it around the houses and shops near the Dattatreya temple in Tachpal, passing through Inacho, Bachutol, Jela, Jagati, Brahmayani, and Chyamasingh.

It is believed that worshipping and taking darshan of the linga as it is paraded around houses and shops brings progress and prosperity to business. Along with the exhibition of the wooden linga, the singers of the Bhimsen Guthi paraded it around the city singing a sexually suggestive song in Nepali, "Bhimsen deya lajja khang lo wanla, bisyuwane mwayak so jhayala," meaning, "Did Bhimsen's linga make you greedy, or have you come to see it so you don't have to run away?"

The tradition dictates that on the evening of Falgun Purnima, a person carries this linga to the river near the Brahmayani temple to wash it, and after placing it back in the temple, the Fagu festival for the year concludes. Although there is no definitive evidence regarding when the practice of exhibiting the linga began, it is said to have started around the 17th century when King Jagatprakash Malla constructed this temple.

To mark the beginning of the Fagu festival, along with the raising of the Chir Swoyagu (raising the sacred pole) in Basantapur, Kathmandu, the linga has been put on display from the eighth day of Falgun at the platform of the Bhimsen temple in front of the Dattatreya temple in Bhaktapur. Along with the linga, a hole has been made in the middle of a red cloth to depict a scene of sexual intercourse, through which the wooden linga is inserted. Cultural expert Yashodhara Manandhar informed that when the suspended linga is moved, it enters the hole in the cloth shaped like a vagina, and this scene is interpreted as the sexual union of Bhimsen and Draupadi.

She explained that the Fagu festival is celebrated as a festival that inspires creation with the arrival of the spring season, adding that the main message conveyed is that this time is most suitable for human life for creation because Kamadeva (the god of love) himself becomes active.

According to cultural expert Manandhar, the raising of the Chir Swoyagu, or the planting of the sacred pole, is considered the union of Shiva and Shakti. Since Bhimsen is one of the 11 avatars of Lord Shiva, this festival is also interpreted as a symbol of Lord Shiva and Parvati.

The tradition holds that the Fagu festival for the year concludes when, on the evening of Falgun Purnima, a person carries the linga on their shoulder to the river near the Brahmayani temple to wash it, and then places it back in the temple.