Gobardhan Puja, Mha Puja, Nepal Sambat today)

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File photo of Mha Puja

KATHMANDU, NOV 04 -

Hindus across the country are celebrating Gobardhan Puja , the fourth day of Tihar, on Monday.

The day is celebrated on the first lunar day of Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik.

This day is is celebrated to rejoice the event when lord Krishna had lifted the Gobardhan hill and saved millions of people and cows from the wrath of Lord Indra, the lord of rains.

This puja is performed with great zeal and enthusiasm by building cow dung hillocks, which symbolise the Mount Gobardhan, the mountain which was once lifted by Lord Krishna. The hillocks are then decorated with flowers and then worshipped. People move in a circle all round the cow dung hillocks and offer prayers to Lord Gobardhan.

According to legends, Gobardhan puja is when Lord Krishna stopped the people of Vrindavan dham worshipping Lord Indra because Indra had become too proud of himself so Lord Krishna completely stopped it and told the inhabitants of Vrindavana to worship Gobardhan Hill.

Likewise, Newars all over the nation have been celebrating Mha Puja, a Newar custom of worshipping one’s own body today.

Mha Puja is a unique tradition in itself for the Newars to celebrate it along with their calendar called the Nepal Sambat. This two-in-one day is one of the most important occasions of the Newars as it is also celebrated as their New Year Day. Great religious values are also attached to this day.

Apart from worshipping oneself, all the household entities like brooms, water pots, utensils and machines are also worshipped in a same way.

The customs of celebrating Nepal Sambat started from October 880 AD. According to a popular legend, there used to be a learned person in Bhaktapur who ordered porters to get sand from Lakhu Tirtha, a river in Kathmandu because he knew that it would turn into a heap of gold the next day. A person named Shankhadhar Sakhwaa came to know about it, and he enticed the porters to leave the sand in his place.

The next day, the sand turned into gold and with that gold he paid off the debt of all the people in the Kathmandu Valley. So from that day, people started celebrating it as their New Year to commemorate their happiness.