Kathmandu, September 29: The festival of Phulpati is being celebrated today, on the seventh day of the Ashwin Shukla Saptami during the auspicious Navaratra of Goddess Durga. On this day, households across the country bring Phulpati—a symbolic set of seven different plants—into their pooja room according to classical rituals, signifying good fortune.
Since the day of Ghatasthapana, Goddess Durga is worshipped in the Dashain ghar (pooja room) or prayer room. On Phulpati, sugarcane, turmeric plant, banana plant, rice stalks, bel leaves, pomegranate, jayanti plant, ashoka flower, and the manavriksha tree are ceremonially brought inside as symbols of auspiciousness.
Phulpati, also known as Navapatrika, represents the nine goddesses (Navadurgas) and is worshipped with Vedic rituals as a form of power worship, explained Prof. Dr. Devmani Bhattarai, a member of the Nepal Panchang Nirnayaak Bikash Samiti.
Fulpati is also related to Nepal’s unification also. The tradition of bringing Fulpati at the Hanuman Dhoka Royal Palace after King Prithivi Narayan Shah unified modern Nepal. There is the tradition of bringing Fulpati from the Gorkha Palace with special traditional rituals. On the Fulpati Day, the Fulpati brought from the Dasain Ghar of the King’s Palace in Gorkha is being brought to the Hanuman Dhoka Palace with a procession.
From Gorkha to Jivanpur in Dhading, six members of the Magar community, along with the royal priests of the Dashain Ghar, bring it. From Jivanpur to Jamal in Kathmandu, six Brahmins carry it.
From Jamal to Hanumandhoka, Phulpati is taken in a grand procession involving senior civil servants, Gurju’s platoon, bands, panche baja, and cultural performances.
During the monarchy days, the King, as head of state, used to attend the Phulpati procession at Hanumandhoka Durbar. After the establishment of the republic, the Minister of Culture has been attending in place of the monarch, according to the Hanumandhoka Durbar Museum Development Committee.
This year, the Phulpati ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The Hanumandhoka Durbar Office informed that the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, members of the Provincial Assembly of Kathmandu, and local representatives have been invited.
With Ghatasthapana on Ashwin Shukla Pratipada, when jamara is sown as per Vedic tradition, Dashain—Nepal’s greatest festival—officially begins. However, from the day of Phulpati, the social vibrancy and festivity of Durga Puja significantly intensify.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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