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Pashupatinath Temple - Shiva's Home in Kathmandu Valley
The Pashupatinath temple in the east of Kathmandu has been a religious site for both Hindus and Buddhists for maybe over 2000 years. Daily thousends of pilgrims visit Pashupatinath, with a top day on Maha Shivaratri when hunderds of thousends of pilgrims come to pay their tribute to Shiva. The Pashupatinath temple complex is one of the Unesco world heritage sites of the Kathmandu Valley.
Pashupatinath is the biggest Shiva temple complex in the world and consist of 492 temples and more than one thousend Shiva lingams. The Pashupatinath temple is an almost 24 meters high pagoda style temple with a golden roof and a massif silver door. Inside is the holy Shiva lingam of Pashupatinath the lord of the Animals an avatar of Shiva. The Shiva Lingam is four faced but it is said it has an for ordinairy people invisble fifth face.
Besides the Shivalingam there is a shrine for Unmatta Bhairava which is one of the eight forms of Bhairava the angry form of Shiva.
here is a story that one of the great Malla Kings Pratap who ruled Kathmandu / Kantipur from 1641 to 1674 raped a virgin leading to her death. The king started to feel really bad about his deed and wanted to get rid of his sin. One of the ways to clean his conscience was to erect several shiva lingams at the Pashupatinath Temple.
The temple streches up to the Bagmati river where you find the "Arya Ghat". The most importent cremation ground of the Kathmandu Valley and for western tourist who are not allowed to enter the temple one of the most impressive things they can see at Pashupatinath. All important Nepali people like politicians or celebrities and any other ordinary Nepali who lives in the Kathmandu Valley and can afford it are cremated here in front of the Pashupatinath Temple. Different castes have different places at the ghat to burn their death. Hindu's burn their deaths because a corpse in impure. Small children and babies are buried.
The Panch Deval temple complex on the Pashupatinath ground is a house for the elderly. Dying and being burnt on these grounds helps in the process of reaching moksh or incarnate into a good next life.
Please see this video
Pashupatinath - UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kathmandu - YouTube
Pashupatinath Temple - Shiva's Home in Kathmandu Valley | Nepal Pilgrimage
