Janai Purnima is one of the important festival celebrated throughout Nepal by Hindus. Janai means Yajnopavit thread and Purnima means Full moon. It falls on Shrawan Sukla Purnima that is in the month Shrawan-Bhadra(July-August). This day is also celebrated as Rakchya Bandhan. Rakchya means security and Bandhan mean bondage. The thread is bondage, a bond of holiness and security. According to Hindu tradition, Brahmins and Kshatriya men change their Yajnopavit, i.e. Janai. After chanting the Gayatri mantra in the ears without being heard by others the Guru-Purohit perform the ritual called bratabandha karma after childhood. Mantra narrates to follow the path of faithful religion and truth.
This full moon day sees a large number of Brahmins at the holy riverbanks. They take ritual dips in the water and offer ablution to the gods. They then change their sacred threads (Janai). Brahman priests tie yellow-red sacred threads around the wrists of the faithful on this day
Pashupatinath Temple is one of the most sacred shrines to Shiva, located on the banks of the Bagmati River, the waters offer the same guarantee of release from rebirth as the Ganges. The high-altitude Gosaikunda Lake in Rasuwa District is also very important at this time, and hundreds of pilgrims and shamans make the pilgrimage to take a ritual dip in the icy waters. Water from this lake is believed to flow some 60 km southwest to the Kumbheshwar Temple tank in Patan, thereby making this also another popular venue for this festival.
Kwati and Janai Purnima
This day is also popular for eating Kwati. Kwati means sprout lentils. But In the Nepal Bhasa or Newari language, Kwati literally means ‘Kwa:’ which means hot dish. ‘Ti’ means liquid. Therefore, “Kwati” means hot dish. So in the Newari Society in this day Hot soup is prepared and taken. For making Kwati 9 types of lentils are soaked in water two days ago. When sprouts grow in mixture prepared by mixing lentils, it is called Kwati. There is a belief that if you eat Kwati, you will get rid of various diseases related to digestion. A special type of Kwanti eaten by the Newar community is called “nwangi”.
On this day, sisters tie colorful threads and flowers on the right wrists of their brothers and sisters to wish them longevity and success. Rakhi is very popular in the Tarai region of Nepal, India, Bangladesh and other countries and the importance of this festival is very high.