'Kushtu Kahika' to be held on 3rd day of Kullu Dasehra

Abhinav Vashisht

KULLU, SEPTEMBER 12

A ‘Kushtu Kahika’ (expiation ceremony) will be performed on the third day of Kullu Dasehra festival on October 17. It was decided by the caretakers of deities yesterday.

During a ‘Dev Sansad’ (Jagati) held at Naggar village in the district on July 14, the deities had pronounced their verdict through their ‘gurs’ (oracles) to placate the irate deities, who were not allowed to attend the Dasehra festivities due to the curtailed celebrations in view of Covid last year. The deities had also expressed displeasure over interference in age-old rituals.

The Kardars (caretakers) of 24 deities fixed the date of the ‘Kushtu Kahika’ during a meeting at Raghunath Temple yesterday. Various rituals will be performed for two days and palanquins of deities will circumambulate the entire Dasehra ground through the same path from where the Jaleb Yatra of Lord Narsingh is carried out during the Dasehra. The cleansing ceremony, known as ‘Chhidra’, will also be held.

This year the seven-day Kullu Dasehra festival will commence from October 15. There is still uncertainty on the participation of all deities amid the pandemic. Even last year, only seven deities were invited, however, palanquins of 14 deities participated in the festival.

Many deities, including Dhumal Nag and Hadimba Devi, had objected to not allowing the deities to attend the festivities. A Jagati was held in Raghunath Temple on November 16, in which 200 deities participated through their ‘gurs’ (oracles) with their symbols and passed the verdict to hold a ‘Kahika’.

While it is likely that the Kullu Dasehra celebrations will be scaled down this year as well, it will be a tough task for the Kullu Dasehra Festival Committee, headed by Education and Language, Arts and Culture Minister Govind Singh Thakur, to find out an amicable solution amid the Covid crisis. A meeting has been scheduled on September 21 to decide the fate of the festivities. Now the deities to be allowed during the ‘Kahika’ will also have to be considered.

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Caption: Representatives of deities participate in a ‘jagati’ at Raghunath temple at Kullu. File Photo