Astrology: To believe or not to believe

Our daily newspapers carry our zodiac’s readings, predicting that we should meet up with friends in the evening, let no one ride roughshod over us during the day, etc, etc. We know about our mothers visiting either this “Baje” or that one, with our “cheena,” or birth charts, trying to figure out a way of calming our “Shani Graha.” We may also have friends interested in palmistry. In short, we aren’t without knowledge or experience of astrology and its various sidekicks. It’s not to deny that there’s truth in it. But these days, the major generalization of predictions and “guesses” leave us slightly skeptic, or have us entirely raise our eyebrows.

Who Speaks For Islam..?

In the fall of 2006, I arranged to have a house warming celebration called Milad, a Muslim Friday evening gathering and prayer, to sanctify my newly built wooden house in my village in Morang. It hadtaken me months of running around to put together the materials and men for the house—wooden planks, beams and pillars salvaged from the two-story shack my father had built years ago; recycling of an old house bought and hauled from near the East-West Highway; corrugated tin, nails, bathroom materials from Biratnagar; and the carpenter-builders from near the border.
And the disruption of the unexpected late monsoon got worse when our young helper, a Rajbanshi girl, eloped with one of the young carpenters. The rest of the carpenters fled,fearing retribution from the girls’ folk. So, when the house finally rose into shape, I planned celebration. The week before the Muslim prayer, I had had a similar gathering of the village Bhajan Mandali. My Nepali-singing villagers came with musical instruments, danced, sang, and offered consecrated sweets. Now, we were ready to celebrate Milad.

Marriage Pattern

Marriages, generally agreed upon by households, bring two households and kinship groups together within a long-lasting network. While gathering of accurate data on the stability of marriage is not possible, available information strongly indicates that marriages, in general, are highly stable. Arranged marriage, particularly among high caste people is successful in the sense that the marriage is not dissolved or replaced. Marriage, apart from its economic, political and social dimensions, also bears a pronounced spiritual underpinning.

Marriage,is socially recognised as bonding of man and woman typically for the purposes of legitimate reproduction. It is an essential institution in the establishment of nuclear family or creation of a new household. Furthermore, it is not only an opportunity to create new social bonds, it is often accompanied by prestations in the form of dan, daijo or tilak, of greater or lesser importance, as much symbolic as material, which firmly establish the marriage and set up long lasting relation between two households or families party to the exchange.

Miss Rajbanshi 2012

1st Runner Up Sapana Rajbanshi. Miss Rajbanshi 2012 Rebika Rajbanshi & 2nd Runner Usha Rajbanshi

Good Return

Suryabatiya Rajbanshi

Suryabatiya Rajbashi is 31 years old and lives with her three children and husband in Jhapa, Nepal. All of her children attend the nearby government school. They have a small house made from mud bricks

Raabniya Naach ( Lanka Naach)

Actor of Rabaniya Nach Posed in Character of Rawan

This is a traditional drama played by peoples of Rajbanshi Community on the occasion of Ram Nawami but sometimes the Lanka Naach is being called to show in their village if they had promised God (as manti or vakal) to do so if their prayers are answered. All the actors of drama play the role of different characters of Ramayana- a holy epic of Hindus.