By A Staff Reporter

Lalitpur, Aug. 19 : Under its campaign to preserve the city’s intangible heritage, the Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) has provided financial assistance to two religious dances performed in its area.

The metro has provided Rs. 2.5 million each to the Bhawani Devi Dance of Harisiddhi and Rudrayani Dance of Khokana to ensure that the historically and culturally important dances do not die because of a lack of resources.

According to the LMC, the money will be used to set up revolving funds for both the dances.

Speaking about the monetary support, Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan said that intangible heritage was the heart and soul of the culture and preserving it was just as important as protecting tangible heritage. “We hope that the establishment of the revolving fund will secure the dances’ future,” he said.

The Harisiddhi Bhawani Devi Dance, also known as Jala Dance (Jala being the Newa name for Harisiddhi), is regarded as the first masked dance of Nepal. It was started by King Bikram Aditya and is performed by the priests of the Harisiddhi Temple. The dance used to be taken around the valley and exhibited in the cities of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur too once every 12 years. In Harisiddhi, the dance is performed twice every year on the occasions of Yomari Purnima and Phagu Purnima.

Similarly, the Rudrayani Dance is performed every 12 years in January or February depending on the auspicious date fixed by senior astrologers.

Last year, the metropolis had provided Rs. 5 million for the preservation of the famous Kartik Naach. Likewise, LMC had also supported efforts to restart the Dashain Khadga Jatra three years ago. The Jatra had not been conducted for 24 years at that point of time.

The metropolitan city has also allocated budget for the celebration of Krishna Janamashtami, Astamatrika Dance, Machhindranath Jatra, repatriation of stolen artefacts and the conservation of Nepal Bhasa.