Abstract

Several socio-religious organizations known as guthis have been formed overtime to serve the deity Buṅgadyaḥ and to organize his annual chariot procession, arguably the longest chariot procession in South Asia. One of such organizations, Luthāma Guthi, formed in the 17th century, is responsible for maintaining an important part of the structure of the chariot, namely vimāna, the part securing the sanctum. Documentary evidences reveal that this guthi went through a great transition after the Śāha rulers conquered the Kathmandu Valley in 1767-68. This paper, on the basis of a number of textual sources, will analyse the life of the Luthāma Guthi during the transition, exploitations it had to cope with, protests by the members, and a legal battle to regain the overseership of the guthi to its original members.