Guthi Sansthan, priests and cultural experts are worried about finding an eligible horse to replace Seto Ghoda (white horse) of Taleju temple that died on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the horse, believed to be the conveyance of Goddess Taleju Bhawani, eldest sister of the nine deities (Nawadurga), was buried on the temple premises with priest performing the traditional death ritual.

The horse is worshipped on the night of Bijaya Dashami and decorated and paraded around the Bhaktapur city. The ritual is said to have

started in 1323 in Bhaktapur.

“Luckily, the horse died the day after completing this year’s ritual, but we are too worried about replacing it with a new one,” said  Narendra Prasdad Joshi, Mul Naike (head priest) of the temple. The horse was brought from Singha Durbar, after the first one died, on the recommendation of former Mul Naike Ishwori Prasad Joshi in 1979.

However, the Guthi Sansthan is still clueless about where to bring the new horse from.

“We don’t know where we can find one, because we don’t have experience of dealing with it,” said Leknath Sapkota, Guthi Sansthan chief in Bhaktapur.

Om Dhaubhadel, a cultural expert, said the festival cannot be observed without a new horse.

On the festival day, three priests of the temple who belong to Karmacharya, Rajopadhayaya and Joshi families perform tantric rituals, observing the lunar cycle. “The festival will be incomplete without a white horse and Guthi Sasthan should help us keep this centuries old tradition alive,” said the head priest, who has been working at the temple for over three decades.