Pashupatinath Temple

The temple was created in the 5th century by Licchavi King Prachanda Dev after the previous building was consumed by termites.[5] Over time, many more temples have been erected around this two-storied temple. These include the Vaishnava temple complex with a Rama temple from the 14th century and the Guhyeshwari Temple mentioned in an 11th-century manuscript.

Finding of Shiva Linga at Pashupatinath Temple

It is said that the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu took shelter in a cave on the Chandravan mountain. Everyday Kamadhenu went down to the place where the lingam was sunken into the soil and poured her milk on top of the soil. After a few thousand years some people saw Kamadhenu pouring milk on that same spot every day, and started to wonder what that would be. So they removed the soil and found the beautiful shining lingam and started worshiping it.

Pashupatinath Temple Panorama of the Pashupatinath Temple from the other bank of Bagmati river, Kathmandu, Nepal.

The area of Pashupatinath encompasses 0.64 hectares of land including 518 temples and monuments.[2] Main pagoda style temple is located in the fortified courtyard within the complex guarded by Nepal Police and Nepal Army and has a police outpost along with living quarter within. In front of the western door, there is a huge statue Nandi bull, in bronze. Along with many temples and shrines of both Vaishnav and saiva tradition.

Temples and Shrines in the outer complex

• Ram Temple
• Virat swaroop temple
• 12 jyotirlingha and Pandra Shivalaya
• Guhyeshwari Temple

Pashupati temple surroundings

The temple has a policy of charging white people entry and barring white people from certain sites even if the white person is a Hindu.

This main temple is built in the Nepalese pagoda style of architecture. All the features of pagoda style are found here like cubic constructions, beautifully carved wooden rafters on which they rest (tundal). The two level roofs are of copper with gold covering. The temple resides on a square base platform with a height of 23m 7 cm from base to pinnacle. It has four main doors, all covered with silver sheets. This temple has a gold pinnacle (Gajur). Inside are two Garbhagrihas, outer and inner. The inner garbhagriha or sanctum sanctorum is where the idol is placed and outer sanctum is an open corridor-like space.

The sacro sanctum, or the main idol is a stone Mukhalinga with a silver yoni base bound with the silver serpent. The lingam is one metre high and has faces in four directions. These faces represent various aspects of Shiva; Sadyojata (also known as Barun), Vamadeva (also known as Ardhanareshwara), Tatpurusha, Aghora & Ishana (imaginative). Facing West, North, East, South and Zenith respectively representing five primary elements namely earth, water, air, light and ether.[9] Each face has tiny protruding hands holding rudraksha mala on right hand and a kamandalu on the other. Unlike other Shiva lingams in India and Nepal this Pashupati Shiva lingam is always Dressed in its golden vastram except during abhisheka, so pouring milk and Ganga Jal is only possible during abhisheka through the main priests.

Raghavendra Bhat (right) and Girish Bhatt in traditional 4-5 kg heavy Priestly garb[10] of Pashupatinath Temple

The unique feature of this temple is that only 4 priests can touch the idol. Daily rituals of Pashupatinath are carried out by two sets of priests; one being the Bhatt priests and other Bhandari. Bhatta or Bhatt are the one who performs the daily ritual and can touch the lingam, whereas Bhandaris are the helper and temple caretaker priests who are not qualified to perform pooja rituals or to touch the deity.

The western entrance of main temple courtyard

Pandra Shivalaya and ghat (viewpoint for tourist from adjacent side of river Bagmati, East of the main temple)

The temple courtyard has 4 entrances in the cardinal directions. The western entrance is the main entrance to the temple courtyard and the remaining three entrances are open only during festivals. The temple security (Armed Police Force Nepal) and the Pashupatinath area development trust are selective regarding who is allowed entry into the inner courtyard. Practising Hindus of South Asian diaspora and Buddhists of Nepali and Tibetan diaspora are only allowed into Temple courtyard. Practising Hindus of Western descent are not allowed into the temple complex and must go no further than other, non-Hindu visitors. An exception is granted to Sikhs and Jains; if they are of Indian ancestry they may enter the temple complex. Others can look at the main temple from the adjacent side of the river[11] and have to pay a nominal fee of $10 (1000 Nepali rupees) for visiting the hundreds of small temples located in the external premises of the temple complex.

The inner temple courtyard remains open from 4 am to 7 pm for the devotee but the Inner Pashupatinath Temple where the Lingam of Lord Pashupatinath is established is open from 5 am to 12 pm for the morning ritual and viewing and from 5 pm to 7 pm for the evening ritual. Unlike many other Saiva temples, devotees are not allowed to enter in the innermost Garbhagriha premises but are allowed to watch from the exterior premises of the outer Garbhagriha. The temple closing times change depends upon the season.In november ,it closes at 6.30pm.Going further,it closes early if light fades early.in summers ,they close at 8pm.

The inner sanctum where the Shiva Linga is placed, has four entrances: east, west, north, south. Normally devotees will have the Shiva Lingadarshan through western door entrance only. From 9:30 to 1:30 devotees can worship from all the 4 doors.

All the four doors are also opened during the Abhisheka time i.e. 9-11am. All the four sides of the Shiva Lingadarshan 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 Rudraabhisheka and various other poojas. Abhisheka will be done based on the direction the mukh 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 mukh of the Shiva Linga.

There are many festivals throughout the year and thousands of people attend these festivals. The most important festivals are the Maha Shiva Ratri Bala Chaturthi festival, and Teej festival. Teej is one of the most celebrated festival at Pashupatinath Temple. It is celebrated by Hindu Nepali women for long life, happiness of their husband. It is believed that taking fasting at that day will make strong bond between the husband and wife. On this day, Pashupatinath Temple will be with biggest crowd.[12]

In January 2009, after the forced resignation by the chief priest of Pashupatinath temple, the Maoist-led government of Nepal "hand picked" Nepalese priests of Khas-Gorkhali ethnicity to lead the temple, thus bypassing the temple's long-standing requirements.[13] This appointment was contested by the Bhandaris of the temple, stating that they were not against the appointment of Nepalese priests but against the appointment without proper procedure.[2][14] After the appointment was challenged in a civil court, the appointment was overruled by Supreme Court of Nepal.[15][16] However, the government did not heed the ruling and stood by its decision. This led to public outrage and protests over a lack of transparency. The paramilitary group of the CPN (Maoist), called YCL, attacked the protesters, leading to over a dozen injuries.[17] Lawmakers and activists from opposition parties joined protests, declaring their support for the Bhatta and other pro-Bhatta protesters.[18] After long dissatisfaction and protest by Hindus both in and outside Nepal, the government was forced to reverse its decision that had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Nepal and reinstate Bhatta priests.

One of the outer shrine damaged in 2015 Nepal earthquake

The main temple complex of Pashupatinath and the sanctum sanctorum was left untouched but some of the outer buildings in the World Heritage Site were damaged by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.[19]

The buildings and street layout of the temple was used in the video game Commandos 2: Men of Courage in one stage of the game, "Target: Burma". Although the game was set in Burma, there were references to Gurkhas, soldiers of Nepali nationality.

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  Pashupatinath temple
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  Pashupatinath temple on sunny day
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  A monkey in Pashupatinath temple
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  City view from Pasupatinath Temple
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  A small temple door in Pasupatinath temple
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  A small Shiva temple
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  Sadhus looking to devotees
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  A ash laminated sadhu smoking marijuana
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  Pashupatinath temple Kathmandu
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  A panoramic view of Pashupatinatha
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  A color shop in Pasupatinath area
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  Night view of Pashupatinath
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  Pashupatinath entrance gate
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  Pashupatinath temple at Arati Time
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  Pashupatinath night time during the evening arati
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  Midnight view of Pashupatinath temple
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  Pashupatinath temple Gajur
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  Glowing view of Pashupatinath
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  Pashupatinath temple on sunny day
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  Pasupatinath temple view from above gaurighat
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  A group of Sadhus enjoying their day
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  Cremation of Dead body
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  Sunshine on Pahupatinath temple
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  Very lighted Pashupatinath temple at night
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  Basmeshowr Ghat, Where cremation happens
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  Many Shivalingas at Pashupatinath temple
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  Shikhar style shiva temple at Pashupatinath

• Michaels, Axel. 1994. Die Reisen der Götter: Der nepalesische Paßupatinatha-Tempel und sein rituelles Umfeld, mit einem Beiheft Pasupatiksetra. (Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag).
• Michaels, Axel and Govinda Tandan. 1994. Pasupatiksetra. Maps of Deopatan. (Bonn: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag).
• Michaels, Axel. 2008. Siva in Trouble: Festivals and Rituals at the Pasupatinatha Temple of Deopatan (Nepal). (Oxford University Press).
• von Schroeder, Ulrich. 2019. Nepalese Stone Sculptures. Volume One: Hindu; Volume Two: Buddhist. (Visual Dharma Publications, 2019). 1556 pages with 2960 illustrations (duo-tone with numerous colour illustrations); 345 x 240 mm; bound with slipcase. Includes glossary, bibliography, chronological table, and index. SD card with more than 15,000 digital photos. ISBN 9783033063815

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