Rato Matsyendranath

When the team, now accompanied by woodcutters, went back two months later in Falgun to cut down the tree and bring back the wood, the tree could not be found. Dil Kumar Barahi who had not joined the inspection team earlier was confounded and asked members of the initial inspection team if all rites and rituals had been performed the first time around. The members unwillingly accepted their mistake. Following this, animals were sacrificed, a traditional ceremony was carried out, and another tree was chosen. Just as one woodcutter was about to strike the newly selected tree to cut it down, something made him look back. What he saw startled him- the tree that had been chosen earlier was staring right back at him.

There is no shortage of skeptics who might scoff at such stories, stories that all Nepali festivals are invariably tied to. Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of Nepalis have a strong belief about such supernatural tales, Dil Kumar Barahi is a believer. He is a modest Newari man living in Patan's Yanga Bahal near the famed Patan Durbar Squar. He runs a furniture store that specializes in traditional wooden doors and windows, the kind that are seen on so many old houses in Patan and Bhaktapur. Dil Kumar, who started tindering around on the Rato Matsyendranath chariot since he was twelve, is largely in charge of the historic Rato Matsyendranath festival.