Biruda () is a mixture of five seeds of crops used for worshipping and blessing during the Gaura festival. The mixture is composed up of five different types of grains and pulses (

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, horse gram,

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

and black gram). This festival is mainly celebrated in

Sudurpashchim Province Sudurpashchim Province () is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces established by the Constitution of Nepal, new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and the Biruda mixture is mainly eaten in this region. On the event of the Gaura festival, it is believed that the god Mahesh (Shiva) was married to the goddess

Gaura ''Gaura'' was a genus of flowering plants in the family Onagraceae, native to North America. The name was derived from Greek Language, Greek ''(gaûros)'' meaning "superb" and named in reference to the stature and floral display of some specie ...

(Parvati). In the day of

Panchami Panchami () is the fifth day ( tithi) of the fortnight (paksha) in the Hindu lunar calendar. Festivals * Naga Panchami is a Hindu festival celebrated by Hindus in most parts of India. It is celebrated in the Shravana month. On this day, adhere ...

, Biruda is kept with water in a copper pot to make them wet. The next day the mixture is washed and water is replaced with full customs and worship of Goddess Gaura. Next day this process recontinues. Finally, fourth day from Panchami called Ashtami, all women who wore a sacred thread ''dubi dhaga'' fast for good fortune of them and their family members. Whole day women worship goddess Gaura chanting different mantras and folk songs. At last near to end every one gets up, Biruda and fruits are kept in pieces of cloths and they are thrown towards sky, everyone starts to catch anything they can, it is believed that it is good for fortune to catch these things.

References

Objects used in Hindu worship Hindu festivals {{hindu-stub