Madhav Narayan Barta Pardesh Yatra

Nepalese Hindu devotees line up to take holy water from a small pond at Shesh Narayan Temple during the month-long Madhav Narayan festival in Pharping, Nepal. The Madhav Narayan festival is a full month-long event devoted to religious fasting, holy bathing, and the study of the holy book called the Swasthani, which is dedicated to the God Shiva and Goddess Swastania. A chapter of the story is read each evening by priests or householders to the gathered family. Hundreds of married and unmarried women wearing red attire and dozens of male devotees complete a month-long fast for a better life and peace in the country at various temples. Unmarried women take the fast to attract a suitable husband and married women take the fast in hopes of improving their families' prosperity.