The one month-long Swasthani Mata festival, organized in a town called Shankhu, situated near Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, is being completed on Sunday. What is noteworthy is that the Swasthani Mata festival is part of the Hindu tradition, but it is celebrated only in Nepal in the whole world. With the full-moon day of the Paush month of the Hindu calendar, the festival began on the 6th of January, and this little town witnessed its buzz.
Devotees from all across Nepal reach the town for the festival, and those who are unable to visit the town, read the chapters of the Swasthani Mata Katha for a month being wherever they are. According to the Katha, those who bathe in Shankhu’s River Shali during this festival, are freed of their sins. The reading of this Katha began back in the year 1573 during the rule of King Jayant Dev. It is believed that the Katha’s primary chapter has been written in the Nepal language of the native Neva community of the Kathmandu valley.
Incidents from many religious books like the Skanda Puran are a part of this Katha and we can find the mentions of Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Vrinda, and Kamadeva in the same.
