Not only Buddhists, but people from other communities as well have now made the use of khada almost mandatory for welcoming and honoring guests during various auspicious occasions. Khadas are white, yellow, red, blue, and green in color. Different colors of khada represent different meanings. Likewise, some khadas are long while others are short. The use of khada has become widespread since the year 2046 B.S.
For nearly three decades, khada has become a shared cultural item among all communities. Today, in NB Blog, we have taken as our topic the khada used by Buddhists and the lungdar seen at Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Let us move toward understanding why khada and lungdar are important for Buddhists. In almost every activity of Buddhists, the use of khada is considered nearly mandatory. The word khada is formed through a distortion of the word khatak. Kha means snow and tak means symbol. In Himalayan regions, khada as white as snow is offered with the wish for auspiciousness and good fortune. Since flowers are not easily available in Himalayan regions, there is also a religious belief that khada began to be used as an alternative to flowers. It is believed that the tradition of offering khada in Himalayan communities existed even before the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. Khada is mainly found in five colors.
Khada is especially used in three major events: birth, marriage, and death. Apart from these, Buddhists have followed the tradition of using it in every auspicious activity for centuries. If there is no khada, no ritual or activity of Buddhists can be performed. Among the five colors used in khada, white symbolizes purity, yellow symbolizes peace, red symbolizes power, blue symbolizes progress, and green symbolizes good fortune. Likewise, the five colors together represent the five elements: red represents fire, yellow represents earth, blue represents sky, green represents water, and white represents air. Khada contains the symbol of the Eight Auspicious Signs, and four lines of auspicious blessings are written on it. On the khada, words of peace and auspiciousness are written in Sambhota script.
