Memorial Processions

Two Processions, Two Griefs

Indra Jatra holds grief and joy simultaneously — a balance that reflects the festival's theological completeness. The chariot processions are public, loud, and collective; the memorial processions are intimate, quiet, and personal. Both are essential.

Upaku: Guiding the Dead

Upaku (sometimes spelled Upakwa) is an evening procession unique to Indra Jatra. Families who have lost a member in the past year — between the previous Indra Jatra and the current one — carry oil lamps through the old city, guiding the departed soul toward its next destination.

The procession moves in silence or near-silence, a river of small flames threading through streets that earlier in the day were thick with chariot-pulling crowds. Participants carry the lamps above their heads; the deceased's name may be invoked; prayers are offered at specific shrines en route. The procession is not a display of grief but a service: the living actively helping the dead navigate the transition.

The specific route and timing of Upaku vary by community and tole. According to Nepal Tourism Board sources and accounts in Republica newspaper, Upaku occurs on the evening of Kwaneya — the first chariot day.

Dagin: A Mother's Search

Dagin is the procession associated with Indra's mother — the goddess who descended to earth to search for her captured son. According to Nepal Tourism Board documentation and ethnographic accounts (Toffin 2010 discusses the mythological framework), when Indra was taken prisoner by the Newars, his mother came looking for him. It is from this searching figure that the Dagin procession takes its character: a group moving through the city in the manner of one searching for the lost.

In practice, Dagin is associated with bereaved families, particularly those who have lost a parent or elder. The connection between Indra's mother's search and the grief of those who have lost family members gives the procession its emotional resonance: to walk Dagin is to join a cosmic grief that has been acknowledged and ritualised for centuries.

Note on terms: Dagin is sometimes confused in popular accounts with the oil-lamp processions of Upaku — they are distinct observances. Dagin is the mother's search; Upaku is the lamp guidance. Both occur during Indra Jatra but on different evenings and with different communities of participants.

The Contemplative Counterpoint

For visitors to Indra Jatra accustomed to the festival's exuberant surface, encountering these processions at dusk can be a profound reorientation. The festival is not only celebration; it is also reckoning — with death, with the year's losses, with the continuity of the community across generations. The memorial processions make this explicit, and their quiet intensity is among the most moving things Indra Jatra offers.