Tihar

Tihar is also known as Deepawali in Terai and Diwali in India. Tihar is five-day long festival which is celebrated 20 days after Dashai Tika (Dashami). It is the second biggest festival celebrated in Nepal after Vijay Dashami. We can see whole Nepal lighting better than ever in a whole year during this festival. The five-day long festival begins with worship of Crow, followed by worship of Dog in second day, Laxmi Puja in third day, Govardhan Puja in day four and ends with Bhaitika on the fifth day. The festival marks the turn of year in Lunar Calendar, Nepali Sambat.

Today is the day of Bhai Tika this year. Bhai Tika which is celebrated on the 5th and last day of Tihar is an important day of the festival. Bhai Tika is such a day to pray for the long life of the brothers by sisters, which is referred as “Vai or Bhai”. According to Hindu religious scriptures, there are various stories behind the celebration of Tihar. One of the famous stories behind the celebration of Tihar is related to Yama (the god of death) and his sister Yamuna. Yama had been staying away from his sister for a long time. His sister wanted to meet him so, she asked various sources to visit him and ask him to give her a visit. She sent crow, dog, and cow and at the end he went himself to visit her house. She was very happy to see him and welcomed him by putting an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare, she put him five colored tika. Yamuna made a circle with mustard oil, Dubo Grass (Cynodon Dactylon) and put Makhmali Mala (Globe Amaranth) and asked Yamaraj not to go till the oil, Dubo Grass and the flower gets dry. Therefore, every sister worships her brother keeping him in the circle of mustard oil, putting mala (garland) of Makhmali flower and Dubo grass. He was so pleased with his sister’s reception, he proclaimed that every year, on the Tika day, if a sister puts a Tika (Tilak) on her brother’s forehead, then no one can harm her brother. Till date, this tradition is followed. Sisters perform puja for their brother’s safety and well-being. Brothers in return give gifts to their sisters as a token of love. Varied gifts specially meant for Bhai Tika is available in the market. This festival of Tihar is incomplete without Bhai Tika. This day sisters put “Tika of five colors” Panch Rangi Tika - yellow, green, red, blue and white on forehead of her brothers, to ensure long life and pray to Yamraja for her brother’s long life and prosperity. Sister offers brothers Shaguns of dry fruits especially walnut, hazelnut (Katus), fruits and sweets and in return the brothers give their sisters gifts and money. The brothers also put Pancha Rangi Tika to sister and bow her on her feet and assure her to protect her till the end of life. The Bhai Tika is an important day for the Hindu, to strengthen the relationship between brothers and sisters.

Prospects of Ecotourism in CHAUBAS, KAVRE, Bagmati Province, Nepal (Thesis of MTS)

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ecotourism is an ecological activity of seeing, watching, studying, admiring nature, flora, and fauna, socio-cultural local ethnic, take responsibility for the preservation of the surrounding environment by involving local residents. Chaubas Kavre is located in Bagmati Province. Chaubas is a new emerging ecotourism destination characterized by natural beauty, scenic attraction, and socio-cultural diversity. The main attraction of this place is a favorable climate, pine forest, agro-forest, and various types of green forest, natural environment, flora and fauna, house of villages as well as panoramic views of the Himalayan range of Mahalangur in the east to Manaslu Himal in the west, Tamang, Pahari culture, Mulkhark Bhiimsenthan, Gadhidanda. Ecotourism is not yet the economic backbone of this area. But this area has potential in that direction. This study aimed to analyze the prospect of some natural ecotourism in Chaubas, Kavre. Following are the specific objectives that the research will be focused on:

ü  To know about the present state of the tourism in Chaubas, Kavre,

ü  To examine the requisites for ecotourism in consideration to the study area, and

ü  To advise applicable measures for community based ecotourism development in the study area.

Using the survey method, the respondents were selected through a random sampling and purposive sampling was done to collect data from tourists, local people, and concerned stakeholders found around Chaubas, Kavre. The logic behind using random sampling for the study was to get a better result. The sample size of this study was 20 domestic tourists and none found foreign tourists when field surveys, 10 concern stakeholders (6 teahouse /homestay and local business person, 4 travel and tour operator from Chaubas village who are operated tourism business in Kathmandu valley), and 20 local people of Chaubas village. Altogether 50 respondents have answered this survey. The data obtained was associated with the concept of 4A (attraction, accessibility, accommodation, and amenity/ancillary service).

This study is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter deals with introduction, second literature review, the third research methodology, fourth present state setting of the study area, fifth ecotourism requisites of the study area, sixth the applicable measures for CBET in the study area, seventh with presentation and analysis of data, and the eighth with summary of major findings, conclusion, and recommendations respectively.

Chapter one: This chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, the objective of the study, hypothesis, conceptual framework, significance of the study, the limitations of the study.

Chapter two: The second chapter includes a literature review. Here different national and international literature on the prospects of ecotourism is reviewed. This chapter shows the research gap on the proposed topic on the basis of reviewed literature.

Chapter three: This chapter shows the research methodology of the study. It describes how research has been conducted on the field and rationale of the selection of the study area, research design, nature and source of data, sampling, and sample size, data collection techniques, and tools, reliability and validity of data, data analysis and interpretation are described.

Chapter four: This chapter presents the general information of the study area, tourism resources of the study area and ecotourism after COVID-19 in the study area are described.

Chapter five: It shows the ecotourism requisites of the study area. It has described like flora and fauna of Chaubas, socio-culture biodiversity, environment issues, ecotourism by involving the local people and SWOT analysis of Chaubas Kavre.

Chapter six: This chapter shows the applicable measures of CBET in the study area. It includes community-based ecotourism, applicable measures, collaborative approach, intervention/ strategies of CBET, prospective of ecotourism product, potentials tour packages, and ecotourism marketing.

Chapter seven: The seventh chapter is about analyzing models and data presentation of prospects of ecotourism in Chaubas Kavre.

Chapter eight: The final chapter ends with a summary of major findings, conclusion, recommendation and some aspects of future research.