Once in the days of yore, whoever became the King of Bhaktapur died on the night of assuming his throne. This continued for a long period. But once a courageous king of the solar race took over the reign of Bhaktapur who kept awake the whole night to know the cause of such mysterious deaths. At about midnight a snake came creeping towards him so as to bite him to death. The king however struck it dead with a sword. many people as well as Gods in human form came to see the snake displayed the next day by the king himself. Muni Acharya, a famous Tantric (one with powers begotten from Tantrism) found out by his virtue of tantrism that along with the many Gods, Shree Viswanath, the presiding God of Benaras was also present there. Muni Achraya used his magic power in an attempt to capture him and as Lord Viswanath tried to escape, the Acharaya chased him. Just when he was about to be captured Lord Viswanath assumed the form of god Bhairav and tried to sink into earth. In the mean time, Muni Acharya chopped off his head leaving his body alone to sink into the earth. It is, therefore, believed that Kala Bhairav (the form assumed by Vishwanath) at Benaras of India is still headless and the mere head of Bhairav is found installed in Bhaktapur. In the year 634 A.D. Jagat Jyoti Malla the then King of Bhaktapur is believed to have built a chariot for Bhairava and introduced the practice of drawing chariots with Bhairav and Kali in them round the town of Bhaktapur.
Another legend to justify the origin of ‘Bisket Jatra’ says that a king of the Lichchhavi dynasty named Shiva Dev was facing invasion by a more powerful Kirati King. The king sought advice from Goddess Bajrajogini who advised him not to worry about the battle and asked him to seek the help of his preceptor, Shekhar Achrya. At the request to king Shiv Dev the latter converted himself into thousands of tigers and drove away the Kirati King. However, he had a bad day in course of time when he converted himself into a snake at the request of his wife. By fear and mistakes of his wife both of them had to remain as snake for good till they both eventually committed suicide. The city state of Bhaktapur had drought that year which reminded the king of his preceptor Shekhar Acharya whose house was later found deserted. By following the track of serpent, they came to conclusion that the serpents lying dead in a hole there were none other than his preceptor and his wife. “Bisket Jatra” was started by the same king to commemorate their sad demise.
Another legend to justify the origin of ‘Bisket Jatra’ says that a king of the Lichchhavi dynasty named Shiva Dev was facing invasion by a more powerful Kirati King. The king sought advice from Goddess Bajrajogini who advised him not to worry about the battle and asked him to seek the help of his preceptor, Shekhar Achrya. At the request to king Shiv Dev the latter converted himself into thousands of tigers and drove away the Kirati King. However, he had a bad day in course of time when he converted himself into a snake at the request of his wife. By fear and mistakes of his wife both of them had to remain as snake for good till they both eventually committed suicide. The city state of Bhaktapur had drought that year which reminded the king of his preceptor Shekhar Acharya whose house was later found deserted. By following the track of serpent, they came to conclusion that the serpents lying dead in a hole there were none other than his preceptor and his wife. “Bisket Jatra” was started by the same king to commemorate their sad demise.
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