|
 Pashupatinath is Nepal's holiest Hindu Pilgrimage site (followed by the
remote Muktinath in the Himalaya). Like Varanasi in India - although on a
much smaller scale - it is a time-warp of temples, cremation ghats, ritual
bathers and bearded, half-naked sadhus (religious mendicants). Dedicated
to Lord Shiva (one of the Hindu trinity), the shrines and temples of Pashupatinath
straddle the now-polluted Bagmati river which, like the Ganges, is considered sacred
by the faithful. To die and to be cremated here is to be released from samsara
(the cycle of rebirth in this world).This wooded ravine near the golf course and
airport is considered to be one of the abodes of Lord Shiva who is the
patron deity (in one of his more benign forms) of Nepal. Pashupati is another name
for Shiva and means 'Lord of the Animals'. |
