Rato, or Red, Machhendranath is one of the patron deities of the Kathmandu Valley, said to have come from ancient  Kamrup in the eastern Himalaya in mythical times. Although he resides most of the year in a temple in Bungamati, on the south side of the Kathmandu Valley, his ritual procession, or Jatra, takes place in Patan, across the river from Kathmandu. This year the deity is mounted in his Rath, actually a small ornate temple mounted on wooden wheels and surmounted by a wooden spire covered with pine boughs.

The mammoth wheels represent four ferocious Bhairab gods and on the prow of the chariot is the metal face of Karkot, the mythical King of the Nags, or snake deities. It is thought that Rato Machendranath brings rain to the Valley farmers through the aid of the snake gods.