A 'House Warming' Puja (Pooja) in the home where I live

Last weekend was the auspicious occasion of, quite literally, a 'house warming' at the home where I live. The room I rent is on the right corner of the first floor (the window with 4 sections and door access to the balcony).

It is traditional to perform several ceremonies in order to protect the house and its inhabitants from any evil, ill health, bad luck and to promote good health. These rituals include Lakh Batti (a ceremony of 100,000 lights), Vastu Puja (removing negative energy and evil), Ekaha (blessing deceased family members), Rudri Puja (blessing the house). The ceremonies lasted 2 days.

A marque was erected outside in preparation for the festivities. It extending onto the street. Shyam, the father of the family, is wearing a white wrap around dhoti. The main priest is on the left side of the photo.

Shyam applies offerings of soft sweets above the entrance, next to a plaque with the family surname:

This is blessed by a flame of burning oil ...

... and the everyone is anointed with ghee as they pass through the doorway.

This is what the entrance hall usually looks like. My motorcycle is on the left of the picture.

However, the entryway was completely transformed for this occasion:

Rugs were laid around a temporary altar constructed of green branches and strung with bunting. Ritual items were placed on the rugs. A red, yellow and white canopy was suspended above the altar.

Lots of family, friends and neighbours attended ... so ... lots of food had to be prepared. Here are the main ingredients for the tarkari (curry): potatoes, chick peas, green beans, courgettes and green chilies. Note the stack of  round plates (dhuna) next to the chilies. These are made from dried leaves from the sal tree and are used to hold offerings, as well larger ones (tapari) for eating food.

This is the snack we ate before the main meal was ready. The large round item is Sel Roti. It is made by deep frying a batter of spiced and sweetened rice flour ... and tastes much better than a doughnut!

Meanwhile, the priests were performing ceremonies downstairs, in the entryway.

Here is Bishnu, the mother, making an offering.

More sesame oil burning lamps were lit in the evening ...

... and then 3 lamps were lit (Lakh Batti), with a total of 125,000 wicks:

...which made the hallway very hot for everyone:

I suggested to Shyam that it might have been better to hold the ceremony during the winter instead of the summer. But he told me the date was carefully determined by the priests, using astrological charts and tables.

The fire in the altar was lit on the second day.

This produced more smoke than the previous day ... so I removed the smoke detector alarm that I had installed in the kitchen when I arrived. ( ... as part of the safety precautions recommended by the volunteer organisation!).


15 garlanded gurus recited from holy scriptures throughout the day. This is part of the Ekaha Ceremony in memory of family members who died an unnatural death.

The head priest drew the outline of the Hindu god, Brahma, on the wall in a corner of the kitchen as part of the Vastu Puja.

Here is the finished drawing of him sitting on a lotus flower. He has 4 arms and holds a sankha (conch), chakra (wheel), gadha (club), padma (lotus).

Later, everybody assembled on the street outside as one of the nephews threw sel roti and coins from the balcony for people to catch as a token of good luck:

Traffic had to bypass people scrambling on the ground to retrieve coins ( ... just like the traditional Scottish 'scoor-oot' when the Best Man throws out coins at a wedding).

Of course, the festivities continued into the night ... because the Nepalis love to dance ...

Now, that's what I call a thorough House Warming!

Namaste!