depends on his hereditary occupation. Under the Newar kings from the earliest times, the various services connected with these ceremonials have been the duty or privilege of certain families or castes. A particular family has for generations been expected to perform the dancing, while another, of the carpenter caste, has from time immemorial constructed the great car in which the god at the Machendrajatra festival is seated. Others supplied the music, and the leading family of artists modelled the masks and executed the painting in connection with these picturesque events. It is stated that an order existed that "if any Newar should without sufficient reason (which he will be required to show) absent himself and shirk the performance of his hereditary duty, he is tried and fined, the amount of fine varying according to his means and the importance of the duty which he ought to have performed." The popularity and magnificence of these festivals has declined within recent years, and the various regulations regarding them somewhat relaxed, but sufficient of these pageants are maintained at different seasons 14
