Survival to drought: The shared story of the Himalayan pangolin and Macchindranatha Jatra

Neither the festival nor the pangolin knows of the other. Yet both share a locality, a climate, and a history of drought and recovery in a valley that has long lived at the mercy of the monsoon.

Every spring, tens of thousands of people gather on the ancient streets of Patan to witness the Rato Machindranath Jatra, started in the 7th century. The towering chariot is hand-built from bamboo and wood, and is slowly pulled through the city by hundreds of devotees. Flowers and water sprinkles from rooftops. The people chant: “Let the rain come”.