The Sites and Legends of Pashupati

by Nidhi, Aastha, and Swosti

 

We went to Pashupatinath, to see the temples and know about the seven wonders of Kathmandu. The van was very crowded and there was chaos.

After we got off the van, we went towards the temple complex. On the way, we saw fossils, printing blocks of wood, old coins and Buddha statues.

 

Our first major visit was to the burial grounds where it was very dirty. We felt that the place should be cleaned. We saw many graves of dead people, one fresh grave, and a cemented grave on top of which a person was sleeping.

Next we went to a place where many cows were grazing. Then we went to a school or an ashram where students live and study. They were wearing orange and yellow clothes and they had shaved their heads and some covered their heads. We were not allowed to take photos there.

 

Coming out of the ashram, we entered the Ram temple courtyard. After that we saw some people burning corpses of family members who had died. We saw a pyre being set up. A family member went around the body and then placed the fire on his face.

 

We went to the main Pashupatinath temple, saw the doors made of silver. There were many shrines on the side of the river we were on. We climbed the walls and felt a bit like the monkeys around us. There were many steps. It was a little tiring climbing the steps.

 

We had an adventure climbing up the stepped walls next to the climb. They were painted white and it was just a bit scary as well. We reached another temple complex where there were shrines of the Shikhara architecture and past that was a guard’s hut and behind that was the Mrigasthali jungles. We climbed on the water tank 

with the guard’s permission and saw spotted deer and one with big antlers.

Mrigasthali is the place where Lord Shiva came in the form of a huge buck and spent time enjoying nature until Lords India, Brahma, and Vishnu came to catch him and held him by the antlers. In the struggle, the antlers broke into three places!

Then we had another adventure climbing up a steep monkey hill. We saw many monkeys and most of them were friendly and did not attack us. Redeep Dumzan told us that, “I feel very lucky one of them did not scratch me!”

 

Then we reached Guheswori where we counted the lion sculptures all around it.  Someone said there were 28 lions, someone said 30 and someone eve said 35. We rested there and we drank water.

Our trip of the day was over and we had seen many things. We got on the van again and headed back, on the way we did stop for some snacks in a restaurant and we came back to Spiny Babbler. The day as well as our trip had finally come to an end.

We went to Pashupatinath as a part of our curriculum of studying World Heritage Sites. Pashupatinath, being one of the most famous temples, as well as a very popular heritage site of Nepal is visited by many but outlying temples, complexes, and legends are not very well known.

 

This day, we learned how to distinguish between male and female deers. We saw many monkeys, stray dogs, cows and also deer. The temples were exquisite and we also saw people burning dead corpses. Overall, it was a great trip, and we all enjoyed it very much.