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The procession of Rato Machhindranath, the deity of good harvest and rain, faces uncertainty due to the lockdown enforced to prevent COVID-19 outbreak. Though the procession is to be taken out on April 24, the chariot has yet to be built.
People’s representatives and leaders of the cultural groups linked with the procession want to organise the chariot procession at any cost whereas the Guthi leadership said the chariot could not be built during such difficult time.
Astrologist Daibagy Kirtimadan Joshi shared that although it could not possible to construct the whole structure of the chariot, the tradition should be continued by constructing a place to keep the deity. He added that the chariot could be built by maintaining social distance as per government’s decision. He argued that after the chariot procession, the event could be organised once the situation returns to normalcy.
Kapil Bajracharya, 70, the main priest of Rato Machhindranath, is sad. He shared that the procession was never stopped even during the most difficult situation in the past and the procession is even more significant during this pandemic. The chariot procession of Rato Machhindranath was also held even following the Gorkha earthquake in 2015.
Spokesperson of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Raju Maharjan shared that it would be a problem to take out a procession amidst the lockdown since the procession once initiated should not be stopped. Guthi Sansthan Lalitpur chief Raj Bhuju said it was not possibile to make the chariot for the Rato Machhindranath festival during the lockdown period.
According to him, the chariot making process requires adequate workforce which is not possible to manage at the moment when the lockdown is going on. ''The procession could be postponed until the lockdown was lifted,'' he added.
