Bhoto Jatra

Bhoto Jatra

Dear readers, 

Welcome to the Hamro Library.  It seems you are keen to know about Bhoto Jatra. Then let us know what is meant by “Bhoto”. You may be amazed to know that Bhoto means a vest. Of course, it is true that Bhoto in Nepali, when translated to English, becomes a T-shirt. And you are thinking right, In Nepalese customs and traditions, we have our festival as a festival of a vest. Well, you may not probably know that Bhoto Jatra is a small event that takes place during Rato Machhindranath ko Jatra and marks the end if the Jatra festival.

Well, there is a very interesting tale behind the celebration of Bhoto Jatra. It is believed that farmers were called jyapus in around 12^th and 13^th century in history of Nepal. Those days were the days when gods and ghosts were also seen so this legend is also similar to the tale that relates to ghosts and witch.

Jyapus were called as the healers in contemporary society and were treated as a doctor in today’s world. It was so because when modern medicines have not developed a treatment of diseases were done through the use of herbs and plants and as mentioned above that Jyapus were the farmers they had the experience to work with herbs and plants.

Considering the above reality of that society a serpent king god called a Jyaapu for the treatment of his wife’s eye. Actually, since last four days the serpent god king’s wife i.e. the queen was feeling irritation in the eye (she had eye infection since the last four days) and serpent called the jyaapu for her treatment ensuring him to give anything that he wishes and worth more than his lifetime income. 

Being attracted by the offer the jyaapu confirmed the offer and went with the troops of Serpent’s king. He succeeded is the treatment of her eye’s and was awarded the Bhoto that the serpent was wearing as his gift according to his wish. The jyaapu used to wear that Bhoto anywhere and everywhere he went as he found that Bhoto very beautiful as it was made of candescent diamond and precious stones.   You know everyone’s eye lies in money and economy nowadays and even it used to take place during that time.

A ghost happened to see the farmer wearing that fascinating Bhoto and got lured by it. The ghost then started hatching a plot to steal the Bhoto.  He used to wear it on special events. The ghost tried his best but was not succeeded in his cunning idea. Unfortunately, one day the farmer went to his field and before entering he put all of his belongings into his storage along with his Bhoto and this was a grand opportunity for the ghost to steal the Bhoto. So, taking advantages of this opportunity he took the Bhoto and ran away. When the farmer realized this, it was too late although he ran behind the ghosts he failed to retain his property.

He had the will power to retain his Bhoto and he also now hatched a plot to regain it. He was sure that in the event of Rato Machhindranath ko Jatra everybody including ghosts as well as humans. Therefore, on the day of the festival, he went there and finally found his cult and directly went to him and started arguing on the topic of the decorated Bhoto. On the same occasion, the king happened to see the arguments and called both of them to solve their problem. After analyzing the problem king ordered both of the culprits to bring the proof of their belongings.

Then the farmer went to the Serpent king for help. He was made assured by the king but on the day of help, he was not present. As a result, the Bhoto was not recognized and was not handed over its owner. SO, there introduced a new custom of BhotoJatra by showing it all around the city to find its real owner. Still, the real owner is not recognized.

Authored By Shlok Koirala for HamroLibrary