The jewels studded bhoto was displayed three times before a crowd at Jawalakhel, Lalitpur in the presence of President Ram Baran Yadav and top government officials. [break]
"The festival gets people´s attention throughout the month. Tourists in Kathmandu also make it a point to be a part of the Bhoto jatra," said Sanju Shakya, a young participant of the festival.
Every year locals talk about getting the festival recognized by the UNESCO as a cultural inheritance.
“Being enlisted under UNESCO´s cultural heritage would certainly add to the importance of our festival,” said Sanju.
According to Bhakta Raj Rai, chief of the Lalitpur Guthi, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is preparing a proposal for the UNESCO to enlist the festival under world cultural heritages.
The UNESCO few years ago had rejected the government´s proposal to enlist the festival under the endangered cultural heritages. The Machchhindranath Jatra, the chariot procession of rain god had this year begun on May 13.
Shyam Tanukar, 27, owner of a handicraft shop in Patan said that the festival receives international attention, but it is still very limited when compared to its historical importance. “The crowd of people from different corners of the world boosts our spirit to work harder for our cultural practices,” said Tandukar. “We are glad the festival ended without any unpleasant happening this year.”
The locals are facing obstruction of vehicular movement during chariot pulling procession. Tandukar, a member of a local club, added that locals of Patan have proposed the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City on providing a parking space to the visitors and construction of new sub-road sections to ease the vehicular movement during festival.
Lajana Shilpakar of Lagan, Lalitpur says that she has been extremely busy this year participating in the festivals held in Lalitpur. The 56-year-old lady shared that the six-day long Lalitpur Festival celebrated to promote tourism kept her busy for a month. “Our festivals are gaining more popularity every year as we are committed to conserve and promote them,” she said.
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