Gai Jatra

The festival of "Gai Jatra", the procession of cows, is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (August-September). The festival is one of the most popular festivals in Nepal. The festival is celebrated with the belief that cow, (taken as goddess Laxmi as well) help the decised soul to cross the baitarni river(the border between heaven and earth). However, the ironical sessions have become synonym to Gai Jatra festival and came into tradition in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. This is the time to forget the sorrow of losing near ones by different acts. The comedians take this as their opportunity to show their talent as well.

In terms of historical evidences, once when King Pratap Malla lost his son, his wife, the queen remained dumbstruck. The king was very sad to see the condition of his beloved queen. The king, in spite of his several efforts, could not lessen the grief of his wife. By all means he wanted to see little smile on the lips of his sweetheart. He announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh would be rewarded adequately. And so came the parody and comedy on this sad day and the king ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires,mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra days which is still continued till date.