Gleaming Kathmandu for welcoming Goddess Laxmi (Photo Feature)

Saroj Basnet

Kathmandu: People are celebrating Laxmi Puja today.

People worship the Goddess of Wealth Laxmi on this day of Tihar. There is a tradition of cleaning the houses and welcoming Goddess Laxmi in the night.

Similarly, people paint the entrance with a mixture of cow dung and red soil. They draw the line of the mixture from the entrance to the Puja room of the house.

There is also a tradition of people to print footprints of their daughters as a symbol of the Goddess Laxmi. People even make their small daughters, with painted feet, walk towards their Puja Kotha “Puja Room.”

Some people also make small footprints to make it more attractive. Likewise, the colorful mandalas can be seen in the houses.

It is believed that Goddess Laxmi stays in those houses whose house and heart are clean. People decorate their houses with lights and make colorful rangoli at the entrance.

Dazzling Kathmandu with Twinkling Lights on Laxmi Puja (Photo Feature)

The night of Laxmi Puja is also known as Sukha Ratri, meaning the night of happiness as it is believed that Goddess Laxmi comes to reside in the house on this special night. To ‘welcome’ the goddess in the house, devotees make the footprint signs from their courtyard up to the main altar.

On the evening of Laxmi Puja, troupes of teenage girls from the neighborhood sing ‘bhailo’ songs amidst dancing and merriment. The bhailo troupes visit house to house in the neighbourhood performing the bhailo cultural songs and dances.

In return, the house owners, especially mothers, give them various presents like paddy, rice grain, flower garlands, money, and ‘sel roti’, a special delicacy cooked in ghee.

The same rituals have been followed even this year. Kathmandu city has lightened in the evening of the Laxmi Puja. The gleaming streets of Kathmandu to welcome Goddess Laxmi is enough to leap the hearts of everyone.

(Glimpses of gleaming Kathmandu on Laxmi Puja)