Mha Puja

Worshipping the inner spirit

The name Mha Puja translates to honoring the body or the self. Instead of directing devotion entirely outward to temple deities, participants celebrate the divine presence residing within every human soul. The ritual is designed to cleanse and invigorate the spirit for the upcoming year, asking for prosperity, good fortune and freedom from harm. Lighted wicks and incense sticks lit during the ceremony carry a reminder that each person should share warmth, clarity and fragrance with the surrounding world.

Drawing the mandalas

Households create a line of sacred circular floor designs made from powdered limestone, forming an eight-petalled lotus inside a water circle. Every family member receives their own mandala, alongside additional diagrams for the messengers of death and essential home tools such as the water jug, winnowing tray and broom. The center of each figure is marked with mustard oil and ringed with grains including unhusked rice, red rice, black soybeans, lentils and puffed rice according to household tradition.

Blessings and gifts

Participants sit cross-legged before their designated floor art. The senior woman of the home moves along the row, placing a mark of colored paste on each forehead and presenting long burning wicks, sacred threads and baskets of fruit with citron. During the Sagan Biyegu portion, she carries a clay vessel of yogurt, offering a dab for each person's temple. Everyone then receives boiled eggs, smoked fish and bowls of rice wine, which must be refilled three times before being put down.

The feast of eight dishes

To conclude the night, family members eat together directly over their mandalas. Placing heavy bronze dishes onto the sand art deliberately destroys the intricate patterns, reminding everyone of the fleeting nature of worldly things. A mound of beaten rice sits in the middle of each plate, ringed by eight distinct side dishes. These eight foods represent the Astha Matrika, the protective grandmother goddesses known as Ajima. The dinner plates remain untouched until the following morning, when the room is swept.

How Mha Puja is kept

Family members sit in a row before individual limestone mandalas drawn on the floor. The lady of the house applies a paste mark to each person's forehead, then gifts burning wicks, protective threads and baskets of fruit. In the Sagan Biyegu ceremony, each participant takes a dab of yogurt for the temple and receives ritual food of boiled eggs, smoked fish and three pourings of rice wine. The night concludes with a communal feast, where plates are placed directly on the mandalas to break the designs.

When and where

Mha Puja occurs once a year on the first day of the Nepal Sambat lunar calendar, during the multi-day Swanti festival. Because the date follows the traditional lunar cycle, it falls in either October or November in the solar calendar.

The tradition is practiced inside homes throughout Nepal, predominantly among Newar households. Newar families living abroad also observe the rite to mark the start of the Nepal Sambat year.

What Mha Puja means

The mandala represents the universe and acts as a mirror of the individual self. Items adorning the artwork invoke long life, fortune and safety. Lighting wicks and incense encourages each person to spread light and goodness to others. Finally, intentionally destroying the powder patterns under dinner plates serves as a reminder of impermanence in worldly existence.

On the table

• beaten rice
• boiled egg
• smoked fish
• rice wine
• dhau (yogurt)
• citron
• black lentil
• puffed rice

Flavours: Mustard

Questions people ask about Mha Puja

See also

Chhath PujaA four-day Hindu festival honouring the sun and Chhathi Maiya along riverbanksDiwaliA five-day festival of lights celebrated across India and its diaspora to mark the victory of light over darkness.HoliA spring festival of colours and bonfires that marks the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil.LosarThe Tibetan Buddhist New Year festival of renewal, offerings, and family feasts

Good reading and sources

• Mha Puja on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.