Kathmandu
Pasupathinath temple
After
a wonderful darshan of Budha Neelkant
Mahadev we returned to the hotel and had a sumptuous breakfast and left for
sight seeing tour of Kathamndu. First we wished to see Narayanhati palace but to our dismay we found that it was closed
that day. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays the museum at the palace is closed. The
visiting hours are from 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM on working days. Then we left for
the most famous temple of Nepal the Pasupathinath temple. The presiding deity of this temple is Lord
Shiva. Here he has manifested himself as a Lingam with four faces. Here the
Lord is worshipped as Lord of all animals(pasus) ie the master of all living
beings in the universe. Here in this temple no animal sacrifice is carried
out.
But the according
to l Shaivaite philosophy is animals
denotes all Jivatmas are ensconced in
dirt called Pasam which include ego, previous deeds and Maya, once the Jivatma
sheds this pasam then it becomes one with Pathi ( Paramathma). For that also
the grace of the Lord is required but the Jivathma should make an earnest
effort to get rid of pasam. Pasupathinath
temple is sacred to Nepalese as Varanasi is to us. This temple is also situated
on the banks of Bhagmati River which is sacred like Ganges.
The
entrance of the temple is decorated with
images of Ganesha and moon on the right side and Murugan and sun on the left
side. The Lord here is depicted as
holding His drum, Trident and
kamandal in His hands and one hand offering salvation to all the living beings (pasus). There
is also big brass Garuda Panel as it is vogue in Nepal in front of the temple.
Two lions stand guard to the temple. As we enter the temple we can see the
giant brass Nandi, the mount and flag of
the Lord Shiva facing the Lord.
There are three nandis in this
temple. One is in standing pose inside
the sanctum sanctorum and the other two
are in sitting pose on the outer circumblatory paths.
Front entrance of Pasupathinath temple
Babu & Adiyen
Lord Shiva
The
sanctum is built in the pagoda style
unique to Nepal with two stage pyramidal towers, the top of the are lined with Golden plates. The towers are supported by
with wonderful wooden carvings tastefully painted the walls of the
sanctum are also there are wooden carvings which depict events from the puranas
and epics Ramayana and Mahabaratha. There are gates on all the four directions and are silver plated we can
see each face of the Lord form one direction.
The east face of the Lord is
called Tatprush, south face Agor, west face Satyojatham and North face Vamadevam.
When we visited the temple the ritual bathing of the Lord was going on
with the recital of Rudram. As ordained by Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya the
priests of this temple are Namboodri
Brahmins from Kerala. We took the inner circumbulatory path and worshipped the
Lord and prayed to Him grant His darshan at Kailash and also that we should be
able to complete the parikrama.
There are numerous small
temples built inside the temple complex
as an offering to the Lord and there are almost thousands of Lingam installed
inside the temple complex. Some of the other small shrines are Naga shrine,
Bairava shrine the fierce form of lord Shiva who is also considered the guardian
deity of the temple. One small replica of the Buddha Neelkant Mahadev is also there. There is a 108 Shivalinga shrine in which 108
Lingas are installed in rows and the route is so lined up so that we can
worship each lingam. On the North side we can see the Nepal king worshipping
Lord Pasupathinath. On the east side
near the giant Nandi there is a idol of Lord Hanuman on the backside of the
entrance we can see the Shivsakthi panel.
( Note the symbols on the door - Sun and moon, Eyes and flower vase, Lion and bigger eyes on the wall)
There is a legend that
Pasupathinath temple is likned to Panch
Kedar. The story goes like this. After the great
Kurukshetra war, Pandavas wanted to atone for their sin of killing their kin
and teachers as advised by saint Vyas they went to Varanasi to seek pardon from
Lord Shiva but he was not there. So the pandavas left for Himalayas as the Lord didn’t give
darshan to Pandavas He transformed himself as a Nandi and was grazing in the
meadows . When the Pandavas saw the
cattles they could identify the special one and understood that it
was Lord Shiva . Bhima tried to hold the
Nandi but to escape from him the Lord dived into ground but Bhima hold the lod by his hind legs and the
different parts of the Lord appeared at different places. The hump raising at Kedarnath , the arms at Tunganath, the navel (nabhi) and stomach at
Madyamaheswar, the face surfacing at
Rudranath and the matted lock showing up at kalpeshwar. The Pandavas pleased with the
repppearance of the Lord in five
different forms built temples for venerating
and worshipping the Lord. Thus the Pandavas were freed from their sins. It is also believed
that the front portions of the Lord
appeared at Pasupathinath and this temple was also built by Pandavas.
In and around the temple you can see piegeons, devotees feed these birds as an act of charity . There are lots of small shops selling pooja articles like Rudraksh, Saligram and you can pick up something as a souvenir. The temple office is nearby where you can donate to the temple and also get tickets for special darshan a cloak room is available in that office where you can deposit your valuables. As photography is not allowed inside the temple you can leave your cameras here. After a nice darshan of Lord Pasupathinath we left for Guhyeshewari temple.
