Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav received the Vijaya Dashami tika, prasad and jamara at the auspicious time of 10:26 am on Wednesday, marking the main day of Nepal's greatest festival with a traditional ceremony at his official residence in Lainchaur, Kathmandu. The details of the morning observance were confirmed by the Vice President's press adviser Dinesh Yadav, as reported by Khabarhub and Nepal Press.
A traditional ceremony in Lainchaur
The tika was administered by the guru purohit, the priest presiding over the Dashain rituals, at the precise moment identified as auspicious for this year's Vijaya Dashami. The Vice President received the red tika on his forehead along with prasad and jamara, the two items that complete the ceremony on the tenth day of Bada Dashain, the principal celebration of the festival.
Once the ritual was complete, the Vice President himself took on the role customarily filled by elders in Nepali families: he offered tika to the members of his family, extending the blessings he had just received to those closest to him. That exchange of tika within the family lies at the heart of Vijaya Dashami, making the day one of the most emotionally significant dates on the Nepali calendar.
The auspicious hour and the elements of the ritual
The choice of 10:26 am was no accident. On Vijaya Dashami, an auspicious window known as the saait is determined through astrological calculations in the traditional calendar, and households across the country schedule their tika ceremonies around that hour. Observing the saait is regarded as essential for the blessings bestowed with the tika and jamara to carry their full meaning, which is why families, and even the highest offices of the state, keep to the clock on this day.
Three elements defined the ceremony the Vice President observed at Lainchaur:
- Tika: a mixture of uncooked rice grains, red vermilion powder and yogurt, applied to the forehead as blessings for long life, prosperity and good health are offered.
- Jamara: the pale yellow-green barley shoots germinated since Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dashain, and worn over the ears or tucked into the hair as a mark of auspiciousness.
- Prasad: the sanctified offering distributed after the worship, signifying the completion of the ritual.
The jamara received by the Vice President had been growing since the very start of the festival. Seeds are sown in sand and soil on Ghatasthapana and kept away from direct sunlight, watered daily as the goddess is worshipped through the nine nights of Navaratri, before the tender yellow shoots are finally cut on the tenth day for the tika ceremony.
Dashain: blessings, homecomings and the triumph of good
Vijaya Dashami is the centrepiece of Dashain, Nepal's longest and most widely celebrated festival, which runs for fifteen days from Ghatasthapana to the full moon of Kojagrat Purnima. The festival commemorates the victory of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahisasura, a triumph of good over evil that gives the celebrations their religious core. On the tenth day, that narrative is brought into the home, as elders bless the younger generation and families gather, often travelling long distances to reunite.
Across the country on Wednesday, households followed the same pattern seen at the Vice President's residence. People visited their parents, grandparents and other elders to receive tika and jamara, with the round of blessings traditionally continuing through the remaining days of the festival for those unable to make it home on Dashami itself. Homes take on the festival's distinctive look for the week, with jamara swaying over ears and red tika marking foreheads.
The observance at Lainchaur carried added public significance because of the office attached to it. As the second-highest office in the state, the Vice President's participation in the ritual underlined how deeply the festival's traditions run through Nepal's public life, where the day's ceremonies are observed at official residences just as they are in villages and towns across the country.
Press adviser Dinesh Yadav's account of the morning, carried by Khabarhub, Nepal Press and Ratopati, provided the official detail of the ceremony: the tika received from the guru purohit at 10:26 am, and the tika the Vice President then offered to his family members. No further details of the observance were made public.
For the Vice President, as for the families marking the day across Nepal, the brief ceremony compressed the essence of Dashain into a few minutes: a blessing received from the priest, a blessing passed on within the family, and jamara and prasad carried into another year.
