Discover Nepal guide

Rato Machindranath Jatra

Learn about Rato Machindranath Jatra through verified cultural context, key facts, regions, traditions and references.

Communities

Newar community of Lalitpur

Regions

Patan (Lalitpur), Kathmandu Valley

Calendar

Baisakh–Jestha (BS)

Season

Apr–May

Rituals

A four-wheeled, 20-metre chariot is built anew each year and pulled for weeks across Patan — Nepal's longest chariot festival — ending in Lagankhel with the showing of the Bhoto (sacred vest).

Significance

A rain-summoning festival of the valley's farmers that has run, by local reckoning, for over a millennium.