Conclusion

The population of gandharva is few in Nepal but they are found everywhere. They are not educated at all and categorized in low-caste. Their economic condition is not well. Their livelihood was done by singing & dancing, fishing, laboring to the landlords, After the democratic movement on 2007 B.S. (1947 AD), The declaration of free education on primary level by the government of Nepal , they have changed they send their children to the school & collages. Works in different fields too including singing & dancing.

There are drastically changes in Nepal. Untouchability, discrimination on the low-caste people is going to decrease day by day. All the people of all caste treat well. They have right to work, have education, have job anywhere on the basis of their capacity.

There are rapidly changes in social life too. People marry inter-caste and live together.

Though everything has changed but the condition of gandharvas are still not so good. Their conditions are not changed as it should be. The concerned authority (Nepalese Government) should make / manage the rule & regulation and then implement for gandharvas for their betterment.

Sarangi & Arbajo

The Sarangi & Arbajo are the traditional musical instrument of Gandharva. The sarangi is small so it is easy to carry everywhere, but arbajo is heavy. The gandharvas carry the sarangi with them.

 The Sarangi, a one-piece instrument having a neck and hollowed out body, is carved out from a very light wood, locally known as Khiro. The wood is cut into a length of about a foot. The body is carved into a hollow frame with two openings. The lower opening is then covered up with dried sheep-skin. The origin al strings were made out of sheep intestine. The village people allotted intestines of sheep, sacrificed during major festivals like Dashain, to the Gandharvas. The Gandharvas left the intestine in a pot for some days. Once the meat was fully rotten, it was pulled out, leaving behind the fine nerves of the intestine which were then woven to get the strings, which produced fine quality sound. However these days, readily available nylon and steel strings are more popular with Sarangi players as they do not have the time to prepare the traditional variety of strings. Wedge like keys are hammered on to the neck of the Sarangi to serve as screws for tightening the strings. Horse-tail hair was originally used for the bowstring of the Sarangi but these days nylon strings are preferred.

The rhythm of sarangi is fabulous to the people.

Song

Karkha / Birgatha (song of glory), Religious song & Folk song are main song of the Gandharva.

Karkha is the song of pride, glory and bravery of the martyrs & the Rulers.  Religious songs are taken from Hindu legends like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Puran. Nepalese folk songs are song of love, pride & bravery. The folk songs were famous in the past and are still popular on every Nepalese heart.

Gandharva song & its importance

Every person & the religions have their own importance in their country. Nepal is full of multi- caste, multi- lingual & multi- religious people.  In the past, there were not the facilities of postal networks, telephones, radios and televisions for the communication. The gandharvas used to spread the news on the basis of their song. Gandharvas were taken to the war for singing the glory or the bravery of martyrs & the Rulers.   

King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who unified the various scattered kingdoms to form the Kingdom of Nepal, employed Gandharvas to sing the glory of the Shah Dynasty. They were used as a means of propaganda during the unification period and were sent to villages to sing in favors of a unified Nepal.

The importance of gandharva in the unification of Nepal is great. So we do not forget the value of them.

Festivals & Entertainment

The festivals of Gondharva are according to the Hindusm. The mainly celebrate Dashain , Tihar, Sakranti, Teej , Shree Panchami, Shivaratri, Fagu and so on. They celebrate the festivals on their own way. They celebrate Dashain as the greatest festival all of them. It is celebrated for 15 days.

In every festival they use a lot of meat & Raksi (Local made alcohol), singing & dancing is compulsory. But they not use meat & Raksi on celebrating Shivaratri & Shree Panchmi.

Bayi Pooja(worship)

It is believed that dead person trouble human as being ghost. So they make temple of Bayi crossing the nearest river of their village, and worship the Bayi by sacrificing cock or hen. Cock is the symbol of male & hen is the symbol of female.  After finishing worship they cook the meat and eat together. They are not allowed to take that meat to home, to feed their relatives.

The gandharva worship Naga (Serpent) except those pooja. They also worship goddess Saraswati for knowledge.

Bhagera Pooja

Bhager Pooja (worship) is the main pooja of the Gondharva. This pooja is done especially on the full moon of Baishakh (1^st month of Nepalese calendar) or Full Moon of the Monsir (8^th months of Nepalese calendar). The Gondharva worship Bhager and sacrifice a sheep. Every family brings flowers, barely, betel-nut, milk of cow, bamboo, flour of rice and hen. After collecting the things of worshipping, the oldest Gondharva out of them starts the pooja. The meat of sheep & hen are divided to all the family to take their home. The meat is feed to their relatives.