Kathmandu, Mar 1 (PTI) For the first time in two years, Maha Shivaratri festival was celebrated at the Pashupatinath Temple where over five lakh devotees, including an estimated one lakh pilgrims from India, thronged to the iconic Hindu temple in Nepal’s capital on Tuesday.
As early as 3.30 am on Tuesday, devotees started arriving at Pashupati situated on the banks of the holy Bagmati river to pay homage to Lord Shiva.
Till afternoon, the number of devotees crossed 400,000 though the number may cross half a million mark till Tuesday night, according to an official at Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), the body entrusted to look after the shrine’s management.
The Mashivaratri festival was marked at Pashupati after an interval of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of Indian devotees is estimated to be around 100,000. Around 5,500 Sadhus have also arrived from India to pay homage to Lord Shiva.
Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari greeted people on the occasion and urged all Nepali people to protect and promote cultural and religious heritages located in different parts of the country, including Pashupatinath.
“Nepal has always been a centre of spiritual contemplation for devotees around the world who believe in Shiva,” she noted.
“Unity and prosperity of the country through religious festivals was the need of today,” observed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in his message.
The Prime Minister also expressed hope that peace, harmony and brotherhood would prevail among the Nepali people on the occasion.
The proper arrangement has been done for the devotees and authorities here have mobilised around 5,000 volunteers and security personnel to make the celebration smooth and trouble-free, according to Rewatiraman Adhikari, spokesperson of the PADT.
The visitors were advised to wear masks and use sanitisers and hand wash compulsorily during the festival. However, social distancing was not observed as the temple was surrounded by large crowds of people, including children and old aged ones.
Pashupatinath Temple is the largest temple complex in Nepal and stretches on both sides of the Bagmati River and sees thousands of worshippers from Nepal and India daily.
Nepal is witnessing very few Covid–19 cases these days as the daily surge of cases have dropped to less than 200.
With the decline in Covid-19 cases, people are moving here and there without much worry as if the pandemic is over. PTI SBP AMS AKJ AMS AMS
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