Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu – Religious Significance

Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu – Religious Significance

Pashupatinath is the most important temple dedicated to god Shiva. Every year this temple attracts hundreds of elderly followers of Hinduism. They arrive here to find shelter for the last several weeks of their lives, to meet death, be cremated on the banks of the river and travel their last journey with the waters of the sacred river Bagmati, which later meets the holy river Ganges. Hindus from every corner of Nepal and India are arriving here to die.

It is believed that those who die in Pashupatinath Temple are reborn as a human, regardless of any misconduct that could worsen their karma. The exact day of their death is predicted by astrologers of the temple. If you are attracted to the places where the spirit of death can be felt, then consider Pashupatinath as your first destination. It is a temple with special atmosphere of death; death is present in almost every ritual and every corner of it.

Nepalese Hindus believe that cremation into the Holy River Ganges is the last sacrament in one’s lifetime. Six stone crematory platforms on the holy Bagmati banks outside of Pashupatinath Temple are crematorium where Nepali Hindus make death rituals. The upstream two serve for royal family and nobility privately, the rest four Ghats are used by civilians. It is said that the closer to Pashupatinath Temple on both sides of the bridge, the more noble the dead is. Arya Ghat on Bagmati River is the biggest crematoria in Nepal. Photos and close visit are allowed, but to respect local custom and Hindu canon, visitors should behave properly.

In Nepal, orange flowers, red Tikka and golden silks are symbols of death. According to the tradition, family firstly washes away the dust on face of the dead with holy water from Bagmati River and well-shaved children walk three times around the dead. Then family members wrap up the body with white or yellow cloth, sprinkle flower, rice and other auspicious things on the body. If the one pass away has high social status, a Hindu eminent monk will perform a Buddhist ceremony.

Once finishing the ritual, the dead body will be placed on the platform above woods to get cremation which starts from mouth - original of the good and evil. Ashes will be pushed into the Bagmati River flowing into the Ganges River in India ultimately after three hours’ burning. Adjacent red low houses offer accommodation for families who just make the farewell with the dead for one week to pray for the beloved.

It is also very common to meet sadhus in Pashupatinath. Sadhus are wandering ascetic yogis, who are trying to acquire liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth by meditating. They have very unique appearance with specific yellow paintings on their bodies. Majority of sadhus are very tourist friendly and eager to pose for the photos with foreigners, but it is not free of charge. They live in caves or tiny cells on the territory of Pashupatinath. Sadhus have extremely ascetic and even miserable life but for a Westerner their independent and unconstrained behavior looks mysterious.

The temple is one of the 275 Tamil Paadal Petra Sthalams (Holy Abodes of Shiva) on the continent. The place has been praised as Indra Neela Parvatam. This is one of the 4 Shivasthalams in the Himalayas praised by the Tamil hymns of the Saivite Nayanmar Tamil Saints of the 1^st century CE -  the other three being Gowrikund, Kedarnath and Mount Kailash. This shrine has not been visited by any of the Nayanmars, although its praises have been sung by Sambandar from Kalahasti in today's Andhra Pradesh.

Kotirudra Samhita, Chapter 11 on the Shivalingas of the North, in Shiva Purana mentions this Shivalinga as the bestower of all wishes. The twelve Jyotirlinga (in India) are the body and the Jyotirlinga at Pashupatinath in Kathmandu (Nepal) is the head over this body. The River Bagmati that flows next to Pashupatinath temple is also a holy river with many sacred properties. Hindu devotees plunge into the holy Bagmati river daily and recite the verse from the ancient Vedas. It is believed that plunging or bathing into the holy river releases from the cycle of rebirth.