Pashupatinath - The temple town

Lord Pashupatinath is not only the revered god of all gods of the Nepalese people but of all the Hindus over the world. Enshirned in the form of Lingam (Phallus), Lord Pashupatinath, and the surrounding sacred Pashupati area is the center of the reverence and faith of all Hindus. This place is a major pilgrimage site for Hindu. With Pashupatinath Temple as the focal point, Pashupati area is spread over 264 hectares. Devpatan, Jai Bagseshwori, Gaurighat, Chabahil, Kautambahal, Siphal, Gaushala, Pinganthan, Shleshmantak Jungle, etc lie in the Pashupati area. In Pashupati area, there are around 492 big and small temples of different architectural style, chaityas, etc of religious and historic importance. There are around one thousand Shivalingas (Lord Shiva in the Phallus form).

As per the origin of Lord Pashupatinath, various incidents have been mentioned in ancient literature. In this context, mention has been made in the ‘Himawat’ section of Skanda Purana and Nepal Mahatmya. Lord Shiva specially loved Shelshmantak forest. It is said that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati spent a long time enjoying themselves in the form of deer in the ofrest. When the gods did not find Lord Shiva amongst themselves, they were worried and then started their search. In the course of their search, the gods reached Shleshmantak forest. There they found Lord Shiva in the form of a three-eyed deer with one antler. The gods recognised Shiva and tried to control him by holding on to the antler. The antler of Shiva in the form of deer broke into three pieces and the three gods Brahma, Vishnu and Indra held on to one piece each on their hands. Later, with permission from Lord Shiva, Vishnu established the piece of antler in the form of Gokarneshwore Linga on the northern bank of Bagmati river while Brahma established the other piece on the southern part as superior Gokarneshwor Linga. It is mentioned that Indra established the third piece of the antler as Sarwakameshwore Linga on Amaravati.

Later, Lord Shiva started living in the form of Pashupati on the western bank of Bagmati river. In the course of time, theplace was covered with soil and grass started growing all around. Lord Shiva in the form of Linga was concealed. Subsequently, a cow used to come to graze there and would pour milk over the Pashupati Linga as a form of worship. The cowherds were puzzled seeing that the cow had not given milk for a number of days. To find out the mystery they kept a strict vigil over the cow. Finally, they discovered the truth and decided to dig the particular site. While digging at the spot they recovered the Linga of Pashupati. The Linga was enshrined according to the necessary ritual and started the tradition of worshipping it. After that, with the passage of time, Lord Pashupatinath came to be regarded as supreme, as mentioned in the chronicle.

After the Gopals, Kirat kings also contributed much for the prosperity of the sacred temple. Specially in the Lichhavi and Malla period great contributions were made for making the holy temple flourish. The temple got the present form during the rule of Shah dynasty. The renovation of Pashupatinath temple and its premises was completed in 2016 B.S. The roof of Pashupatinath temple is gilded with gold and the doors are silver plated. Pashupati area has been included in the World Heritage List because of its antiquity and glory.

It has been proved that the present shape of Pashupatinath temple belongs to the Malla period. With the roof gilded by gold and silver plated doors, four-faced Linga of Pashupatinath is enshrined in the sanctum sanctroum of Pashupatinath Temple. In the temple complex, there are different statures of Vasuki, Ganesh, Matrika, Bhairav, Shitala, Surya, Hanuman, Saraswati, Navagraha etc.

Guheshwori temple is considered to be of great religious and historical importance after that of Pashupatinath temple. The water hole is covered with a Yantra shape cover over which the Kalasha (waterpot) is worshipped as Bhagawati. On the ninth and tenth day of the dark fortnight Marga Guheshwori festival is held.

Batsaleshwori temple is situated between Aryaghat and Bhasmeshwore along the bank of Bagmati river . Her the Yantra is worshipped as Siddhikali.The festival of Batsaleshwore is significant among those celebrated in Pashupati area. This particular festival is celebrated every year for four days from the fourteenth day of the dark moon in Chaitra.

The two storeyed temple of Vasuki is situated to the north east of Pashupatinath temple. There is a historical belief that this temple was built by King Pratap Malla. Vasuki, worshipped in the form of the King of the Nagas, considered to be the Guru of Pashupatinath.