Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu – Daily Rituals & Abhishekams

Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu – Daily Rituals & Abhishekams

Daily Rituals:

Pashupatinath is also one of the very few living cultural heritage sites in the world. Unlike other cultural sites or museums, Pashupatinath is centre of energy with active participation of people all times of the day, every day.

The daily rituals of Pashupatinath Temple are as follows:

·     4:00 am: West gate opens for visitors.

·     8:30 am: After arrival of Pujaris, the idols of the Lord are bathed and cleaned, clothes and jewelry are changed for the day.

·     9:30 am: Baal Bhog or breakfast is offered to the Lord.

·     10:00 am: Then people who want to do Puja are welcomed to do so. It is also called Farmayishi Puja, whereby people tell the Pujari to carry out a special Puja for their specified reasons. The Puja continues till 1:45 pm in the afternoon.

·     1:50 pm: Lunch is offered to the Lord in the main Pashupati Temple.

·     2:00 pm: Morning prayers end.

·     5:15 pm: The evening Aarati at the main Pashupati Temple begins.

·     6:00 pm onward: Recently the Bagmati Ganga Aarati; done by the shores of Bagmati, has been gaining lots of popularity. We can see the shores of Bagmati crowded mostly on Saturdays, Mondays and on special occasions. Ganga Aarati along with Shiva’s Tandava Bhajan, written by Ravana, is carried out on evening Ganga Aarati.

·     7:00 pm: Door is closed.

Abishekams:

The inner sanctum where the Shiva Linga is placed, has four entrances, East, west, north, south. Normally devotees will have the Shiva Linga Darshan through western door entrance only. All the four doors are also opened during the Abhisheka time i.e. 9-11am. All the four sides of the Shiva Linga darshan are possible during this period. One can take the abhisheka ticket at the SBI counter, available at the entrance of the temple. The basic abhisheka ticket costs around NPR.1100/-, which includes the Rudrabhishekam and various other poojas. Abhisheka will be done based on the direction the mukha is viewed. If your receipt says as eastern direction then one needs to stand in the queue at the eastern entrance, wherein the priests will do the abhisheka for the eastern mukha of the Shiva Linga.