Luku Mahadya

Away from the parade ground, Newar Kathmandu keeps its own observance, and the figure at the centre of it is Luku Mahadya — Shiva in his hidden form.

He is the god who went into hiding, and his images are correspondingly unglamorous: small lingas and worn stones set low in courtyards, at lane corners and half-sunk into the ground, the kind of thing a visitor walks over daily without noticing. On this day they are uncovered, cleaned and worshipped where they sit, with lamps, vermilion and offerings.

Families also bring out household deities and prepare a feast, so the day inside the toles looks nothing like the day at Tundikhel — no crowd, no horses, just people kneeling at a stone in the corner of their own courtyard.

If you want to see this half of Ghode Jatra, you will not find it on the parade ground. Walk the old lanes of Kathmandu or Patan Durbar Square in the morning instead and look down at the ground rather than up.