Nationalism in Palpa’s Bhagwati Jatra

Abstract

This research is about Palpa’s Bhagwati Jatra, which is performed in every Bhadra Krishna Nawami in Tansen municipality, Palpa. It analyzes nationalism in Bhagwati Jatra through the theoretical framework, propounded by Benedict Anderson, Ernest Renan and Anthony D. Smith but it also collects the idea of other critics, who have written about nationalism. It has got religious, historical and national significance. It draws on the pre-existing history of people and an attempt to fashion this history into a common identity and shared history. Main invocation of Bhagwati Jatra is solidarity but beside this it also speaks on behalf of marginalized and indigenous people. By uniting all people, it evokes for the sake of nation and expresses desire to see unification of all races, castes, culture and so on in the framework nationalism.