Curious practice of eating bone marrow (NEPALESE news & rituals

[Guest guest]

I am forwainfg the entire article because The Hindu does not archive

its older articles. Sorry.

 

Raveen

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Birendra's 'ghost' banished

 

KATHMANDU, JUNE 11. A Hindu priest broke a sacred taboo today,

consuming a meal laced with animal marrow, to lay the ghost of

Nepal's murdered King Birendra and take on the woes of the troubled

royal family.

 

The priest, a lifelong vegetarian, had volunteered his services for

the ``Katto'' ceremony to banish the late King's ghost from

Kathmandu, where the Shah dynasty has occupied the throne for

centuries.

 

As he rode across the Bagmati river on elephant back, he stared

somberly ahead. He will never be allowed to return to the Kathmandu

Valley and must spend the rest of his life in exile.

 

Devout Nepalis hope the troubles that have gripped the Himalayan

kingdom since the June 1 massacre will begin to ease now that one of

their religion's most sacred traditions has been observed.

 

King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, and seven other members of the royal

family were gunned down by Crown Prince Dipendra that day, apparently

in a drunken rage fuelled by his parents' opposition to his choice of

bride. Because he was named King as he lay dying in a coma, a similar

ceremony will be performed for Dipendra on Wednesday.

 

Symbolic act

 

Traditionally, the priest is supposed to eat marrow from a bone

collected during the cremation of the dead monarch, but one Hindu

scholar said he believed animal marrow had now been substituted. ``It

is the symbolism of the act rather than the actual act that

constitutes the acceptance of the undesirable,'' said Mr. Raj Simil

Ghopal. ``But the consumption of animal parts is heinous in itself,

hence the banishment.''

 

The ceremony began under a scorching sun where the priest, dressed

only in a plain white dhoti, busied himself with ritual washing and

prayers beneath an army canopy erected on the banks of the Bagmati.

 

Throughout the morning, well-wishers arrived bearing gifts. They

included the Prime Minister, Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala, whose

handling of the massacre has seriously diminished his party's chances

of retaining its shaky grip on the Government in elections for 20

National Assembly seats on June 27.

 

The new King Gyanendra, was not supposed to be present by tradition.

As the priest dressed in royal garments and donned a replica of the

plumed Nepali crown to assume a likeness of King Birendra, his aides

took stock of the gifts presented to mark his sacrifice.

 

 

http://www.hinduonline.com/today/stories/01120002.htm