Kathmandu, Jun 29 (PTI) Nepal’s Pashupatinath Temple, the fifth-century revered Hindu shrine here, which was closed by authorities for the reinstallation of more than 100 kilograms of gold ornaments around the Shiva Lingam in the premises was reopened after a special puja on Thursday morning.
The temple was on Wednesday afternoon closed after 3 pm to reinstall the gold ornaments called Jalahari, which was earlier removed for investigation after a controversy occurred over its weight.
The temple was reopened for devotees around 3 am on Thursday morning after a special puja.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” directed the Himalayan nation’s apex anti-graft body, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), to probe reports saying the gold in the Jalahari was about 10 kilograms less than what the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) claimed earlier.
The CIAA had on June 25 taken control of the temple to investigate the matter.
The new Jalhari was installed as the support to the Shiva Linga inside the temple during the Maha Shivaratri festival last year.
The ornament taken out for the purpose of weighing and determining the quality has now been returned to the temple. However, the official report of the investigation is yet to be made public.
The former treasurer of the PADT, Narottam Vaidya, has claimed that during the investigation it was found that about 500 grams of gold were missing from the ornament weighing 108 kilograms — 103 kilograms of gold and five kilograms of other materials such as copper and silver — around the Shiva Linga in the premises of the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu.
However, reports said the actual weight of the ornament is 10 kilograms less than what was claimed. This sparked controversy and questions were raised on the matter in Parliament. PTI SBP PY PY PY PY
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