A five-day Hindu fire ritual, the Pitri Moksha Yagya, will be held from November 2 to 6 at Betrawati in Nuwakot district to honour people killed or still missing after the August 26 Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods.
The ceremony will take place at the confluence of the Trishuli and Phalanku rivers. Families of the dead and missing can take part and pray for the peace and salvation of their relatives. It is organised by the Kathmandu-based Guru Gorakhnath Peeth, and Nath yogis who follow the late spiritual leader Yogi Naraharinath will conduct the rituals. Organiser Prahlad Khatiwada, a resident of Bidur in Nuwakot, said family members of the deceased would be able to participate.
Meaning and place
In Hindu belief, “pitri” means ancestors or departed family members, “moksha” means liberation from the cycle of birth and death, and a “yagya” is a ritual of offerings into a sacred fire accompanied by mantras.
The ceremony will honour those whose bodies were recovered as well as those who remain missing. It is a religious rite and does not establish the legal death of a missing person or replace government procedures.
Betrawati is home to Uttargaya Dham, a pilgrimage site where thousands gather each year on Paush Amavasya to perform shraddha and other rites for ancestors. Yogi Naraharinath performed a large fire ritual known as Kotihom at the same location in 1991. The area is also linked to the 1792 peace treaty between Nepal and Tibet.
Mourning without bodies
Many families have been unable to perform funeral rites with their relatives’ bodies. Nirajan Poudel, who lost five relatives, made symbolic bodies from sacred kusha grass after eight days without news and performed final rites at Pashupati Aryaghat. Some mourning facilities in Kathmandu became overcrowded as affected families arrived.
In Jumla’s Patarasi Rural Municipality, families held collective rites with kusha effigies for 10 people who went missing while working at the Hanku Besi Hydropower Project in Rasuwa.
In October, the government introduced a procedure to declare missing flood victims legally dead.
Recovery continues
More than two months on, residents of Betrawati say they need a clear plan to rebuild homes and infrastructure. Local youths, including some living abroad, have begun raising funds to rebuild damaged temples and the local cremation site. Resident Shashi Dangol said people cannot live in temporary tents indefinitely, criticising the lack of a concrete rehabilitation plan.
