Sawa Lakh Deep Prajjwalan (Nepali Style) at Nritya Mandala Mahavihara in Portland, USA

Dr Rabin Man Shakya

Portland, Sept 16 (Nepal Oregon News): Living in the United States and trying to keep the culture and traditions of Nepal alive is a formidable challenge which is being faced by the Nepalese in America.

Nritya Mandala Mahavihara, Nepali Association of Oregon (NAO), Nepa Chhen, NRNA - USA - Oregon chapter, Nepal Oregon News are some of the institutions in Portland, Oregon, USA which are committed to preserve and enhance the culture and traditions of Nepal.

Promoting, preserving and protecting our traditional and cultural values are, actually, not an easy work. It is very hard and arduous task, but Nepalese Portlanders are giving it a shot.

Sawa Lakh Deep Prajjwalan - an act of lighting of one hundred twenty five thousand (125,000) cotton wicks soaked in sesame oil, five baked clay dishes and burnt - was performed here at Nritya Mandala Mahavihara in Portland, USA on Saturday,  Sept 15, 2018.

On the occasion, an Itah Kayegu practice was also organized at Portland's Newah Buddhist temple in which about 20 Newah women from Oregon participated.

Itah Kayegu is a manual and handmade process in which a Newah woman using her hands and fingers stretches up the cotton by, kind of, spinning, dragging and intertwining and finally making an Itah which is used for sacred burning.



Speaking on the occasion, Daya Shakya, vice president of World Newah Organization said that Ita Kayegu and  Sawa Lakh Deep Prajjwalan are a unique preliminary practice from the ancient households of the Nepalese people and hence have a tremendous traditional importance.



Today more than ever, depression is a big problem for the people across the world. Addressing the gathering at the temple, Prajwal Vajracharya of the Mahavihara said that scientific importance of Ita Kayegu lies in the fact that it helps to do away with depression as veining mechanism is affected  in a healthy way by the movements of fingers during the Itah Kayegu process.

Anastasia Roderick of the Mahavihara underlined the need to preserve this kind of practice.

Sawa Lakh Deep Prajjwalan is a fine ritual to benefit any wish of a man or a woman. Live burning ritual of Sawa Lakh Itah Chyakegu was initiated by Padma Laxmi Karanjit and her family at the temple. The Prajjwalan ceremony was ritualized by Prajwal Guruju.

The ceremony was followed by tea, snacks, wine and potluck dinner.

(Rabin Man Shakya is a Nepali journalist in America)