Tokha Bazaar busy in meeting increased demand for Chaku

KATHMANDU: Tokha Bazaar, located in the northern part of Kathmandu, is best known for its Chaku.

Chaku is a traditional Nepali delicacy made from boiled and hardened molasses, some specific spices and dry fruits. It is one of the important delicacies that people partake as part of the celebration of the Maghe Sankranti festival, the other being the Sesame laddu (a sweet ball made of sesame and molasses).

When the Maghe Sankranti festival is around the corner, this ancient town holding historic, religious, and archaeological value is busy preparing Chaku.

Chaku is especially popular among the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley, and Tokha, which has a predominantly Newar settlement, plays a central role in supplying Chaku for the Maghe Sankranti festival, celebrated on the first day of the Nepali month Magh. This year, the festival will be celebrated on Jan 14.

Tokha Bazar, which spans Ward Numbers 2 and 3, is home to 14 Chaku industries. According to locals, most of the Chaku supply originates from Tokha, attracting suppliers from various parts of Kathmandu Valley who place advanced orders for the product.

Over 50 workers are involved in making Chaku at the Shreekrishna Chaku Industry.

The industry’s proprietor, Santamaya Shrestha, shared that her family has been in the business for the past four generations, and she began focusing on chaku-making right after the Tihar festival.

The Chaku produced here is distributed across the Kathmandu Valley, including in places like Asan, Indrachowk, Bhaktapur, Kirtipur, and Patan, as well as outside the valley to locations such as Narayangadh, Pokhara, Butwal, Biratnagar, and other parts of Nepal.

Additionally, there is demand for Chaku internationally, particularly in countries where Newar communities reside.

Krishna Shrestha, Chair of the Tokha Traditional Chaku Conservation Society, stated that the Chaku industries in Tokha remain especially busy from the months of Kartik (October-November) to Push (January-February), producing Chaku and other molasses-based products. Annually, each industry supplies the product between Rs. 3 to 4 million.

It is said chaku-making has been practiced in Tokha since 519 AD. The Tokha Traditional Chaku Conservation Society was established on Nov 7, 2016 to save the traditional chaku-making industry of Tokha, which has been making chaku for a long time.

Rajkaji Shrestha, who has been producing chaku in Tokha for the last 50 years, said that there is a demand for Tokha-made chaku not only from Nepal but also from different countries of the world.