GHATASTHAPANA

Dasain Festival starts with Ghatasthapana day. In other words, celebration of Dasain begins with ceremonial Ghastasthapa. This falls on the first day of the bright fortnight of Ashwin (September/October). Ghatasthapan literally means setting a ceremonial water jar at a certain purified place in one’s household following the instructions of the holy scriptures. The ceremonial water jar symbolizes the Shakti or energy of Devi Durga, which is worshipped during the entire period of Dasain. This would usually take place on the top floor of the Nepalese homes symbolizing detachment.
It does not necessarily mean that there won’t be anything festive to see in the streets. One of the main features of this festival is the colourful crowd of devotees thronging temples to make offerings, all dressed in their best attire. One can see them almost everywhere at the temples, along the sideways, and likewise in many other places.
Different communities have their own ways of observing this day. Newars and some other tribes   make panels of sand-plates, plant seeds of auspicious flowers and cover up the sands with a huge pot. The seeds soon grow into flowers to be pluked or picked up on the eight or ninth day for use in worshipping ritual. When the seedlings are long enough to be picked, it seems to add a great colour to the festivity of Dasain. It reminds us of the beaming beauty of kumari-hood  (creative energy) which makes everybody feel quite happy. The yellow-green colour of this ceremonial seeding reflects and spread over refreshing flavour to the festivity.

GARUDA

A  man-bird – half man and half bird, Garuda is the king of birds and the vehicle of Lord Vishnu. He is the enemy of serpents. His body is golden, his face, white and wings, red.

GANESH MAN SINGH(1915-1955 )

Supreme commander of the Great Political Movement of  Nepal for restoration of Democracy in the year 1990, Gamesh Man Singh was the only person in Nepalese politics to have rejected the unanimous offer to become the prime-minister of liberated Nepal and opted to remain outside government and safeguard development processes of democracy. He was a legendary Nepalese figure, known for the extraordinary courage he demonstrated during his life-long struggle for democracy, freedom of the nation and human dignity. He is considered one of the stalwarts of Nepal’s revolution against Rana Autocracy that culminated in the year 1950 by ousting the family autocracy and establishing parliamentary democracy in Nepal. He became a minister in the first ministry of democratic Nepal formed under the charismatic leadership of Bishweswar Prasad Koirala.. After Koirala, he took over the top leadership of the Nepali Congress Party and led the party during the dark days following the royal coup by King Mahendra. He finally succeeded in restoring democracy after 30 years of so called Panchayat democracy and came be regarded as the father of democracy in Nepal. He became the common and unanimously accepted leader of all parties and was addressed the Supreme Leader of Nepal. In the 60 years of his active political life, he spent 16 years in prison and 14 years in exile.

GANESH HIMAL

A sideview of the Ganesh Himal range of snow clad mountains may be seen from Kathmandu. This range stretches from a tributary of Trisuli river in the east to the upper basin of Budhi Gandaki river in the west. Distinct peaks of this range in separate groups of Himalayas are Ganesh Peak (24,299 ft.), Paldor (19,351 ft.) and Charmar (23,545 ft.).

GANESH

Ganesh is the Hindu God of wisdom and remover of obstacles. In mythology, Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati. Short, fat, four-handed and an elephant headed person, he is the yellow coloured Lord of Ganas or Gana-Devatas, the attendant deities of Lord Shiva. Ganesh is a very popular deity among Nepalese who is worshipped for the success of any work, undertaking or travel etc. Shrewd and talented, Ganesh is the main character of many myths and legends. He is known by many names such a Gajanana, Heramba, Ganapati, Lambakarna, Lambodara etc. Ganesh, the elephant headed god of wisdom and success is the defender and remover of obstacles and has to be propitiated before worshipping other gods. He is one of the sons of Shiva and is also known  as “Siddhi Data” or the one who bestows success for the accomplishment of any work. His elephant head has only one complete tusk, while the other is broken. It is believed that he lost it in a fight with Parsuram. It is also believed that he broke it to write the epic Mahabharata to the dictation of sage Vyasa. His elephant head is believed to be an emblem of wisdom and his mount is a mouse or Mooshika – the emblem of sagacity. Ganesh popularly known as Vinayaka as well.

GANDAKI ZONE

Covering an area of 4,688 square miles and with a population of (???) this large zone of Central Nepal situated in the mountainous region is surrounded by Tibet to its north, Lumbini and Narayani zone to the south, Bagmati zone on the east and the Dhaulagiri zone on the west. This zone is home to many a lofty Himalayan peak, including, Mt. Annapurna and Mt. Manaslu. The Seti, Kali and Madi are the principal rivers here. There are many beautiful lakes here including the Fewa Lake, Rupa Lake and, Begnas Lake. Though still un-exploited, various minerals are found in this zone (such as iron, gold, copper, slate, nickel and salt. Many people engage in small scale and cottage industries, keeping aside the vast majority of people engaged in cultivation and cattle breeding. Due to construction of roads from various parts of the country leading to this zone, Gandaki zone is remarkably progressing in trade and industry besides other sectors of development. The districts of this zone are Manang, Parvat, Kaski, Syangja, Lamjung, Tanahun and Gorkha.

GANDAKI RIVER SYSTEM

This is a major river system and an important river with a huge river basin of the middle parts of Nepal is known as Sapta Gandaki meaning the seven Gandaki rivers because of the seven rivers which meet the main river system at one or the other points. They are (a) Kali Gandaki, (b) Trisuli, (c) Budhi Gandaki, (d) Marsyangdi, (e) Seti (f) Badhigad, and (g) Modi. These rivers originate from various Himalayan ranges of northern Nepal.

GANAPATI

Ganapatai is one of the many names of Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed God

GAAI JATRA

Or the week-long cow festival. The day following Rishi Poornima or the first day of the “Lunar month” of Bhadra (August) is the main day of Gaai Jatra. Bereaved Hindu families send a cow or a man with a horn made of straw and his face painted to symbolically resemble a cow, to roam about in the streets in the belief that the gates of heaven will open only by the horns of sacred cows enabling the entry of the departed souls. The whole week of Gaai Jatra is dedicated to fun-making, satires and irony and all sorts of jokes. People form groups of clowns and caricaturists, and move about in the streets amusing onlookers, arousing curiosity and generally, mirth. They often criticise and make sharp comments on subjects of public interest by their sarcastic and jocular presentations. Even some newspapers and magazines bring out similar Gaai Jatra special editions for similar carry forward the tradition of jokes and satire. 
Another attraction of this festival is the masquerade. On this day (and also in the days that follow), many people dress up in the oddest possible robes and go round the city. Some of them are clad only in rags and some in straw and hay to make themselves look funny. A number of these showmen have their face painted to make themselves look like devils. According to a Hindu tradition these are regarded to represent the ghostly spirits lost and lamented and wandering around on their way to the world of the dead. However, the Buddhist version of this masquerade is quite different. According to them, these masquerading ones are none other than the personification of the Maras or the devils of temptations who were set to disrupt the deep meditation of Lord Gautam Buddha. 
Thus Gai jatra seems to have many interesting insights to offer for festival watchers. Very often rich families organize dramatic recitation of Ramayana in the streets by hiring renowned artists and  musicians on this day.

FALGUN

The eleventh month in the Nepalese calendar, Falgun begins in the middle of February