Massive Crowds Throng Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple for Mahashivaratri Festival

Pashupatinath is venerated as one of the supreme Shiva pilgrimage sites, alongside Kedarnath and Kashi Vishwanath. Devotees, particularly from Nepal and India, as well as from other regions, visit the Pashupatinath Temple during the festival.

From early morning, thousands of pilgrims from across Nepal and neighbouring India lined up to offer worship at the sacred temple premises, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The air was filled with chants of "Om Namah Shivaya", as sadhus, saints, and devotees performed traditional rituals, creating a vibrant and spiritual atmosphere around the temple complex.

"Devotees have been queuing to offer prayers to Lord Shiva since early morning, and the crowd is steadily growing," Shubhas Chandra Joshi, executive director of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), told IANS. "By 9:30 a.m., an estimated 100,000 devotees had already offered prayers."

To facilitate a smooth flow of worshippers, all four doors of the temple were opened as early as 2 a.m., according to Joshi.

He said that at least 3,000 Hindu saints, particularly from Nepal and India, have arrived in the Pashupati area, where they are performing special religious and spiritual practices symbolising devotion, renunciation, and spiritual discipline.

"Around 150 Naga sadhus who arrived from India are also engaged in spiritual practices at the temple site," Joshi said, adding that proper arrangements for food, shelter, and other necessary materials have been made for their stay.

The PADT expects more than 700,000 devotees to offer prayers throughout the day, with a significant number coming from India.

"We have not yet calculated the exact number of Indian devotees visiting Pashupatinath," Joshi said.

The PADT said it has also made necessary arrangements for crowd management, safety and security, health services, and sanitation to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival.

- IANS