The festival Gai Jatra is one of the festival of Nepal. It is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (Aug-Sept). The whole complex of Gai Jatra festival has its roots in the ancient age when people feared and worshiped Yamaraj, "the god of death". However this festival came into tradation in the medieval period and medievalism.
According to the tradation, every family who has lost one relative during the past year must participate in a procession through the street of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young boy dressed as a cow. In Hinduism, a cow is regarded as the most venerated among all the domestic animals. It is believed that the cow revered as a holy animal by Hindus, will help the deceased relatives journey to heaven.
In ancent times, king Pratap Malla lost his son, his queen remained dumbstruk. He is very sad with that.So he want to see a smile in his wife. He announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh laugh would be rewarded adequately. Then the people tried many techniques to make queen laugh. Finally the queen couldnt stop laughing and the king Pratap Malla ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires, mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra.
Hence , Gai Jatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death and to prepare onself for the life after death. According to Hinduism,"whatever the man does in his life is a preparation to lead a goog life, after death."
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