Decoding Myths in the Nepalese Festival of Indra Jātrā

Abstract

As a rule, news from Nepal gets little or no prominence in the western media – but the regicide of 2001, in which Prince Dipendra allegedly mowed down his parents and then shot himself, was a notable exception. Two years earlier, Syed Jamil Ahmed witnessed Prince Dipendra's and his father King Birendra's participation in the festival of Indra Jātrā, held annually in the nation's capital city, Kathmandu. After an analysis of the myths underlying the festival, and of their modification over centuries to serve changing dynastic priorities, the author provides an account of the festival as a ‘first-person felt experience’, and then investigates how its contemporary actuality reflects and attempts to perpetuate an intricate network of social and political meanings. Syed Jamil Ahmed is a director and designer based in Bangladesh, where he is Associate Professor at the Department of Theatre and Music in the University of Dhaka. He trained in theatre at the School of Drama in New Delhi, and in 2001–2 was a visiting faculty member at King Alfred's College, Winchester. His full-length publications – Acinpakhi Infinity: Indigenous Theatre in Bangladesh (Dhaka University Press, 2000) and In Praise of Niranjan: Islam, Theatre, and Bangladesh (Dhaka: Pathak Samabesh, 2001) – catalogue the wide variety of indigenous theatre forms in Bangladesh. He has proceeded to examine the variety of Islamic theatre forms, their inherent features, and their relationship to the corrupting influence of western forms.