The holiest Hindu place in Nepal, a photo from Bagmati, Central

Photographer's Note

I seldom plan the order of my posts. Maybe the only loose rule that I often follow is avoiding posting successive photos of the same place aiming at not being too boring. I have just noticed that both of my last posts feature religious places, so I went looking for a photo of another religious place. So, after showing you the first Buddhist temple that I visited (*), here you have the first Hindu sanctuary or temple compound that I visited and one of the most impressive places where I have ever been.

In the WS's: sadus and Western visitors in the area on the right of this post (#1) and another Hindu temple in the centre of Kathmandu (#2).

Pashupatinath or simply Pashupati is one of the names (avatar?) of the Hindu god Shiva, the Lord and Caretaker of All Living Beings, and another name for the place is 'Temple of the Living Beings'.

Pashupatinath is the holiest Hindu place of Nepal and as such it attracts thousands of pilgrims from all the country and all the Indian subcontinent. It is located in the outskirts of Kathmandu, close to the airport and also of the city centre. It is often referred as a kind of miniature Varanasi / Benares (the holiest Hindu city located in India) and it is one of the preferred places for Hindu cremations in Nepal. The river that flows through it, the Bagmati is also a sacred and being a tributary of the Ganges, the ashes of the deaths thrown into it end up in the holiest of the rivers for the Hindus.

It's believed that the presence of temples in the area is quite old, maybe older than 600 or even 400 AC, although the first written references date from the 13th century. It was subject to various reconstructions and most of what is seen now dates from the 16th century. The existence of various imitations in places in Nepal and India, some dating from the 15th century, shows the popularity of it (even in Varanasi there is one).

The main temple, where only Hindus are allowed to enter, lies to the left of this photo and houses a lingam (a stylized phallus worshipped as a symbol of the god Shiva). Only four priests appointed by the king of Nepal are allowed to touch that idol. Interestingly, those priest are always of Southern India origin.

In my search to write this note, I found a couple of interesting legends about this place:

From saarctourism.org: Lord Shiva once took the form of an antelope and sported unknown in the forest on Bagmati river's east bank. The gods later caught up with him, and grabbing him by the horn, forced him to resume his divine form. The broken horn was worshipped as a linga but overtime it was buried and lost. Centuries later an astonished herdsmen found one of his cows showering the earth with milk. Digging deep at the site, he discovered the divine linga of Pashupatinath.

From sacred-destinations.com: Shiva once fled from the other gods in Varanasi to Mrigasthali, the forest on the opposite bank of the Bagmati River from the temple. There, in the form of a gazelle, he slept with his consort Parvati. When the gods discovered him there and tried to bring him back to Varanasi, he leapt across the river to the opposite bank, where one of his horns broke into four pieces. After this, Shiva became manifest as Pashupati (Lord of Animals) in a four-face (chaturmukha) linga.

From edouard.com: One day Lord Shiva got tired of his glittering palace on the Mount Kailash, so he searched a perfect location where he could holiday. Without telling anyone (even his wife Parvati), he ran away from his palace and, through his cosmic powers, arrived in the Kathmandu Valley. He gained great fame here as Pashupati, the Lord of the Animals, before other Gods discovered his hiding place and came to fetch him.

Location (latitude, longitude): 27.71002,85.34916

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Links to the other posts of the series: Sanctuary of Fatima (Christian, Portugal), Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit (Thailand), Hassan II mosque (Muslim, Morocco) and El Ghriba synagogue (Jewish, Tunisia).

COSTANTINO, trekks, zeca, ViktorVaughn, Floydian, lucasgalodoido, paura, Emile, crckt, riclopes, AiresSantos, asajernigan, jmcl, edytungkal, Bluejeans, robertosalguero, Bruno40, danos, xuaxo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

COSTANTINO (117700) 2008-01-31 17:01

Ciao Jose,
Bellissima scena particolare di Nepal,
con belli colori,POV, e bell quadro,interesante nota,
Complimenti,
Saludos
Costantino

trekks (14348) 2008-01-31 17:05

Thank you for sharing your travel photos, Jose, with such good Note, we see a lot of the world through your posts.

I find this photo particularly nice with such blue sky and the light bringing out the dark color tones of steps, water, walls and temples themselves. Not to forget the green trees. You composed well with the water in the center. I like the red color worn by people in this photo. Great work.

TFS, bill

zeca (19762) 2008-01-31 18:42

Oi Jos�!
Muito boa foto e texto. O local � interessant韘simo e voc� encontrou 髏ima perspectiva. Bela captura!
abra鏾,
Zeca

ViktorVaughn (1525) 2008-01-31 19:02

Hello Jose,

This is a really fascinating shot, and actually a place I haven't seen before. It's a shame I didn't know about it before my trip to Nepal last year. The staircases facing each other have some great lines. And the quality is really good for a shot from 1994.

Regards,
David

UnTrained (0) 2008-01-31 22:12

Ol� Jos�,
I think writing this the captures are very far away, around 20 seconds scrolling ;-)
A good deep view following the curve of the stairs added with good colour spots of the people's clothings. The shadows are a bit dark but not disturbing and the sharpness and clarity are good. The workshop additions are very full of colour and life (only one). Well researched note.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Floydian (30970) 2008-02-01 0:41

Hi Jose,
Taken two years before i was there, brings back some good memories to that beautiful country. The location i do remember, and seeing this photo it brings me back to there on that time when i stood on the bridge...TFS, very nice work in great and deep colours, just as i like to see them.
Regards, Henk

vincz (19113) 2008-02-01 0:45

Elle est vraiment tres belle cette photo avec des couleurs superbes et une fraicheur qui malheureusement n'est plus de mise a pashupatinath. A cette epqoue la bagmati tait encore une riviere il semble et pas un filet d'eau degoutant genre egout a ciel ouvert!!! Ca me fait bien plaisir de revoir ca dans cet etat, comme je l'avais connu la premiere fois que j'etais passe la bas.

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2008-02-01 10:57

Ol� Jos�,
acho bem interessante esses Rios sagrados do oriente, uma regi鉶 que tenho muita vontade de conhecer, sobretudo pela espiritualidade de seu povo. Um 髏imo trabalho seu!
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

emilbo (22616) 2008-02-01 12:45

Salut Jose!
Tr鑣 impressionnante structure le long du canal, j'esp鑢e que l'eau n'est pas trop polu閑 pour les baigneurs. Bonne composition et superbes couleurs, les habits rouges des personnages ajoutent une touche de couleurs � la beaut� de la photo. Beau travail et excellente note.
Bravo!... et bonne fin de semaine,
Emilius

paura (25802) 2008-02-01 17:36

J.Pires,
� um lugar muito interessante e sua nota parece de professor de hist髍ia. A composi玢o como um todo est� muito boa.

Abra鏾,

Paulo

Emile (20352) 2008-02-01 18:07

Hola Jose.
Muy buena fotografia tomada desde un buen punto de vista de manera que has podido captar todo el esplendor de tan precioso e interesante lugar, los vivos colores, la claridad y definicion estan muy buenos. Me gusta tu encuadre permitiendonos disfrutar del canal con los templos y las escalinatas que se miran una a la otra. Tu nota es muy instructiva, gracias.
Un fuerte abrazo mi amigo.

gracious (20025) 2008-02-02 1:13

Hello Jose,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful photo from Nepal!
good pov with very good shrpness, beautiful colour and details!
many thanks for the informative notes
greeting
tony

guillaumejm (0) 2008-02-02 5:21

Bonjour jos�,
une jolie photo. Peut-阾re un petit manque de nettet� (certainement du au scan + compression). j'aime bien les couleurs & le cadrage.
Une super note instructive. je note 間alement que nous adoptons des r鑗les diff閞entes : je poste souvent une s閞ie de photos et c'est quand je n'ai plus grand chose de neuf que je me replonge dans mes archives!.
A chacun sa m閠hode.
Amicalement
JMarc

crckt (7222) 2008-02-02 21:05

Hi Jose,
Lovely composition of the stairs of the Pashupatinath temple. I've been to this place when I was a kid, this brings back really fond memories. Love the contrast too.
Regards,
Shaeri

riclopes (35577) 2008-02-03 0:02

Bom dia Jos�, isto � um espect醕ulo. Que local t鉶 ex髏ico e fascinante. Talvez seja a escala que torna isto t鉶 atraente. A largura estreita do rio faz disto um local mais int韒o e acolhedor que os locais sagrados que visitei na 蚽dia. Por outro lado pode ser mais desconfort醰el, por ser o local deles e fazer sentir-me mais intrusivo. Seja como for, o teu PDV � excelente e a luz refor鏰 o grafismo dos degraus que por seu lado d鉶 for鏰 � perspectiva. A mancha verde e o bocado de c閡 l� atr醩 ajudam a harmonizar o conjunto. Talvez a tua recuperada do passado que gostei mais at� agora. Nas complementares, gosto especialmente do WS1, pela presen鏰 das pessoas e interac玢o no 1� plano. Lembro-me bem de como os sadus podiam ser de extremos para um lado ou para o outro.
Um abra鏾,
ricardo

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-02-03 4:41

Ola Amigo Jose
Esta foto do Palacio Hindu no Nepal est� muito bonita. Gosto muito desta perspectiva, dos detalhes e das cores saturadas.
A nota est� magnifica
Um abra鏾 e bom Domingo
Aires

asajernigan (21427) 2008-02-03 7:22

Jose,
This is an interesting place and you have presented it well. Your composition is fine using the waterway to lead the eye through the photo while the sides create a V that focuses our attention to the center. The lighting and colors are great with nice sharpness and detail.
TFS,
Asa

jmcl (14535) 2008-02-03 8:22

Hi Jose,

I love the winding depth of the composition .. I love how the people's bright close makes them leap out of the place .. wish there was a bit more detail in the darkness .. but very nice image.

take care,

John

edytungkal (4551) 2008-02-03 19:36

Perfect angle and pov to captured whole details of this historic Hindu Temple, very interesting to see their activity on the river. This picture has splited beautiful by the river with nice natural colours, thanks Jose for the pics and informative note.

daniel

danyy (0) 2008-02-04 14:01

Bonjour Jose,
des couleurs tr鑣 prononc閑s, intenses et cela me g阯e un peu au niveau du ciel qui est 'trop' bleu.
Une photo bien document閑 qui montre des traditions vieilles de tellement de si鑓les, des gens qui vivent en dehors des turbulences.
Un sujet interessant.
Best regards.
I'll come back.
Daniel.

sothy81 (9646) 2008-02-04 20:46

Hi Jose, this is a very nice image. Very new to me this place. A very unique one, showing great architecture and ceremony. It is nice to learn how people do things there. Well done. Sothy

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-02-05 3:04

Oi Jos� ,
Que belissimo lugar bem historico , fascinante a arquitectura deste lugar com degraus de cada lado a vegeta玢o de fundo , as pessoas d鉶 uma dimen玢o do lugar , bom trabalo de scan, parab閚s!!!
Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

jaywalker (16105) 2008-02-06 11:12

Hi Jose, A great scene full of interest &, wonderful colours, I love the architecture & the depth created by the water way, excellent POV &, TFS, kind regards Wilson.

ag1993 (634) 2008-02-06 23:36

Hello,
Nice photo indeed, with lots of details and colours.
Regards
Andrea Gatt

robertosalguero (292) 2008-02-07 0:29

Hola Jos�,

La nota es muy larga pero muy informativa sobre ete lugar. Me gusta la manera que captaste la imagen pues el rio en el medio le da mucho atractivo natural. La arquitectura es muy elegante aunque muy antigua, y crea varios puntos de interes por todo el plano. Buenos colores y nitidez. Gracias amigo :-)

Robero

marietom (34611) 2008-02-09 9:28

Hi Jose,

Jolie architecture, ici, ta photo est tr鑣 bien compos閑.
Bon we
Marie

Bruno40 (6662) 2008-02-11 7:26

Hola Jose,
Great composition of this place that is new for me. the colours are great and the quality of teh scan is good too.
The PP work seems strange in my monitor. It seems that you worked separately the tress from the rest, and the buildings are quite sharp compared with the trees.
Let me know if I am seeing badly.
well done
TFS
Jorge

danos (110407) 2008-02-21 5:30

Ola Jose,
i like this religious place in Nepal that looks like the equivalent of Varanasi .As i see you have a lot of years that you travel.Nice shot with the gradines left and right of the holy Bagmati river.The only part of the shot that is blur is the trees in the background.As quality of a scan negative is great.Informative your note.

Regards,Danos

xuaxo (6854) 2008-02-27 12:40

Ol� Jos�
Muito interessante e gosto do enquadramento. � pena � algumas zonas um pouco sombrias demais.
A nota � interessante, mas demasiado longa. As notas deste tamanho acabam por desencorajar o leitor; isto aqui � um s韙io de fotografias e n鉶 propriamente a Wikip閐ia. Eu tenho 鄐 vezes a sensa玢o que escrevo notas grandes demais; recentemente tenho tentado condensar mais a escrita. Mas n鉶 � f醕il o equil韇rio entre a extens鉶 e a informa玢o que se deseja dar.
E se fosse clicar em todos esses links n鉶 saia daqui esta noite :-)
Contudo, � de louvar esse teu trabalho de pesquisa.
Um abra鏾,
F

pablominto (53746) 2008-07-22 23:46

Hello Jos�,

This point of view works well in giving a good impression of the place!
The stream creates a fine diagonal in the composition, and the fact they have prepared the steps on each side shows the water has a particular significance...
Good light and fine details in the architecture!

Greetings,
Pablo -

ikeharel (114499) 2014-11-01 1:04

A very impressive place, Jose, and well chosen point of view to show this complex.
People in the pic. gave excelent scale to appreciate its size.
Combination of water, edifices and stairs with green trees background, evidence of a well premeditated photo.
Bom fim de semana,
Ike