The sacred religious site of Sita Kunda, located in Ward 3 of Rampur Municipality in Palpa, will host a Ram–Sita marriage festival on Tuesday. Rampur Municipality is organising the festival to highlight the importance of religious sites related to Lord Ram and Sita within the municipality.
Rampur Municipality was named on the basis of the religious belief that Lord Ram travelled through the Rampur area during his exile in the Treta era. Mayor Raman Bahadur Thapa said that preparations have been made to celebrate the marriage festival both to inform people about its religious and cultural significance and to promote the upliftment of the religious site.
There is a plan for local residents and stakeholders from Wards 3 and 4 to welcome, in the role of the bride’s family, the wedding procession coming to Sita Kunda from Ramghat in Ward 5 of Rampur. Religious figure Sandeep Rana said that Sita Kunda is mentioned in the Skanda Purana, the Anand Ramayan and Kalidas’s Meghadut.
Ward Chair of Ward 5, Durga Prasad Pokhrel, said that preparations have been made to go to Sita Kunda with the Panche Baja ensemble and cultural tableaux representing more than 13 different communities within the municipality. Chairperson of the Sita Kunda Temple Management Committee, Tirtha Bahadur Thapa, informed that necessary preparations have been completed to welcome the wedding party and devotees coming to the temple.
According to priest Hari Prasad Khanal, after a yajna at Ramghat in the morning, at 9 o’clock the wedding party will set off carrying a symbolic kus grass bridegroom and conducting the Chaurasi Puja. After receiving blessings from senior citizens, the group will take sagun at the Ram Temple and then proceed on foot to Sita Kunda with a team including the Mahant, batuks and priests.
At Sita Kunda, after the welcome from the bride’s side, the marriage will be solemnised in the kunda according to Vedic rituals.
Palpa Festival Rampur