makar mela, Dhanushadham

The Makar Mela, an annual festival celebrated in the month of Magh (the 10th month in the Nepali calendar) at Dhanusha Temple in Dhanushadham Municipality, Dhanusha District, Nepal, attracts thousands of devotees from Nepal and India. This month-long festival begins on Maghe Sankranti and is believed to offer spiritual merit, with devotees performing five holy baths and worshipping the Dhanusha to gain blessings equivalent to visiting a hundred Rameshwars. A ritual offering called Bhata ko Bhar is made, which is believed to fulfill wishes and cure skin diseases. The temple is linked to the legend of Lord Rama breaking Lord Shiva’s divine bow during Sita’s Swayamvara, with a fragment of the bow said to have fallen here. Worshipping at this sacred site is believed to cleanse sins, a faith upheld for centuries and documented in the Mithila Mahatmya, written over 250 years ago.

In the northern eastern part of Dhanusha district, at the Dhanusha Temple in Dhanushadham, Tejpata is the main attraction of the festival. Devotees who come to witness the Makar Mela during the month of Magh, after offering their prayers, purchase Tejpata as they return home. Even though they come for the Makar Mela, they buy Tejpata to be used throughout the year for household expenses.