The story
Bhoto Jatra in Lalitpur/Patan
Bhoto Jatra is the climactic ceremony of the month-long Rato Machindranath chariot festival in Lalitpur, held at the open ground of Jawalakhel. A jeweled ceremonial vest, the bhoto, is displayed to the crowd on all four sides by a state official, reenacting a centuries-old legend of a dispute between a farmer and a serpent king over the garment's true ownership.
The chariot festival of Rato Machindranath, known to Newars as Bunga Dyah Jatra, is the longest of the Kathmandu Valley's chariot festivals, unfolding over roughly a month as a towering, sixty-foot chariot is built at Pulchok and hauled in stages through Lalitpur's old town: Gabahal, Mangal Bazar, Hakha, Sundhara, Chakrabahil and Lagankhel, before reaching its final stop at the open ground of Jawalakhel.