Caturmasa

'Caturmâsa: Celebrations of Death in Kathmandu' is of interest to students of cultural anthropology and of South Asian, particularly Nepalese culture, society and ritual.

The festivals of the four months (caturmâsa) stand apart from other festive occasions in Kathmandu (Nepal) in their overriding concern with death. These festivals are sacrificial feasts, dealing with the riddle of life and death in the Hindu-Buddhist context of South Asia. Caturmasa festivals are collective, supralocal affairs, crossing the border between the upper and the lower part of the town; they involve the whole town of Kathmandu, and the king of Nepal, who is both sacrificer and victim. The two main themes of the celebrations of death are sacrifice and kingship.