(Yoshin dhyo sankhu)
Bisket Jatra is Bhaktapur’s greatest festival and goes on for nine days. The festivity starts off with a raucous tug of war at the city centre between two neighbourhoods trying to drag the triple-roofed chariot of Bhairavnath to their own side. A ceremonial pole called yosin is erected on the city out skirts. The two strips of cloth unfurled from the top represent a pair of dead snakes in whose memory the festival has been installed. “Bi” in Newari means snake and “sika” stands for death, hence the Bisika or Biska or Bisket festival. It is a very colorful festival where three chariots dedicated to Lord Durga, Ganesha and Kumari circle Bhaktapur city. Masked dances are organized and many local feasts are held. People from Patan and Kathmandu also observe this festival at Bhaktapur.
According to the legends the snake who died was a tantric from sankhu who helped the king of Bhaktapur in his war against other neighbour countries in ancient time. In sankhu also we celebrate the part of festival which is similar to bhaktapur. This festival in celebrated by king on the memory of the tantric who helped him. The picture belows shows the pair of snake which is similar to bhaktapur.
