While
everywhere else in Nepal, rice is planted on Ashadh 15th with a lot of
celebration, in Jumla, Ashadh is the time for the first weeding of rice fields.
That is because Jumla has a much shorter summer than other regions that grow
rice, and thus it is planted much earlier in Jestha. In fact, it is a wonder
that rice, a tropical crop, even grows in Jumla which is more than 2,000 meters
above sea level.
But the Kalo
Marsi rice variety not just thrives in Jumla, it is also famous for its
medicinal properties—it is the only rice that diabetics can eat. Over time, it
has come to shape not only the identity of the Jumli people but also their
lifestyle. The people of Jumla worship the man who first taught them to
cultivate rice—Chandannath. In fact, the famous Chandannath Temple in the town
of Khalanga is named after him, even though he simply identified the deity
inside the temple, and the temple actually houses God Dattatreya.
Ramananda
Acharya, Sanskrit scholar and resident of Jumla, has interesting stories to
share about the temple. In the fifteenth century, Baliraj established the Kalyal
dynasty in Jumla, which went on to become the most powerful of the Baaisi (twenty-two)
kingdoms. King Baliraj’s horse frequently went to a particular marshy area and
neighed every time it got the chance. Curious, Baliraj had the area dug out,
and found mysterious footsteps on a black stone.
Acharya
informs that Baliraj had the stone taken to his palace, where he waited for
some learned person to identify it. Baba Chandannath, who was going to
Mansarovar, happened upon the palace. He and his three companions from Girnar,
Baba Taranath, Muktinath, and Ratannath, were devotees of Dattatreya.
Chandannath declared that the footsteps belonged to Lord Dattatreya. He advised
King Baliraj to enshrine the stone –known as Charan Paduka –in a temple at the
original location.
Since then,
the temple has been a centre of faith for the locals. Dattatreya, meaning
trinity of divinity, is the combined physical form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Hence, the temple attracts Shaivas, Vaishnavs, and Hindus of every other
stripe. Besides, with time the temple came to house other deities like the
Buddha, and thus it attracts people of many faiths.
The
unassuming temple is located in Khalanga, the headquarters of Jumla District,
which has rightly been called the Switzerland of Nepal. Apart from this altar
steeped in history, visitors can enjoy views of pristine rivers, imposing pine
forests, vast swathes of grassland, and of course, miles of farmland where Kalo
Marsi rice is cultivated with the waters of the Tila River.
After his
return from Mansarovar, Chandannath went to Tatopani which is near the town of
Khalanga, and experimented for years on strains of rice. In time, he came up
with an exact method and dates of cultivating Kalo Marsi that the residents
still follow, beginning with first plowing on Shree Panchami, planting by
Jestha 15, and harvesting by Ghatasthapana. These methods have served them
well, because it has been found impossible to grow the variety anywhere else on
earth. To show their respect to Baba Chandannath, Jumla residents offer their
harvest to the Temple of Chadannath first, and then have a feast of the first
harvest. These stories depict how central the Kalo Marsi is to the life of
Jumla and how much locals revere sage Chandannath.
Ghatasthapana,
which marks the rice harvest, is thus central to the temple. On this day, two
flags (lingo) are raised on the temple and one on the nearby temple of
Bhairabnath. The lingo is 52 feet tall to represent the 52 weeks of the year,
and the flag is just as long. Acharya stated that the tradition of raising the
lingos is a remnant from the times of the Kalyal era, but since the Gorkhali
conquest of the area, there is also the tradition of raising a victory pillar
on the same day.
Previously,
the wood for one lingo was brought by government officials and Chhetris,
another by Brahmins, and another by Dalits. But in modern times, it has been
hard to get enough people from each community to bring the wood. Hence, it has
been recently decided that everyone should bring all three of the materials
together.
Thus, the
history of the Temple Chandannath gives a glimpse of the evolution of lifestyle
of Jumla. Our gods stand for what we hold dear, and Chandannath’s relationship
with the area’s staple grain reflects what is dear to an agrarian community.
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