Ground Report

Kathmandu March 02: The festival of Shivaratri was celebrated with great enthusiasm and zeal among the devotees, followers, yogis, and sadhus here at Pashupatinath Temple Kathmandu Nepal. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims from all over the world came to this temple just to pay their homage to lord Shiva where lines were seen from a day before. Traffic around Pashupatinath area was completely halted due to the devotee’s number.

Looking at the popularity of the Temple, the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) had made arrangements of tickets for directly entering the temple without any hassle by paying NRS 1000 which was proven to be very fruitful especially for old aged people and Hindu tourists.

 According to beliefs, it is said that devotees who mediate and voice the name of lord Shiva on this day would be freed from all sins. Most of the devotees were seen fasting all day where they visited the near Shiva temple to break their fast. It is also believed that this is the night when Lord Shiva performed his Tandava Nritya that is the source of creation, preservation and dissolution.

Another excitement that attracted youngsters and teenagers was on this particular day it is allowed to smoke hashish or Marijuana for gurus and yogis, which is considered as one of the prized possession of lord Shiva. With this trend, Pashupatinath area also attracts thousands of teenagers where these illicit drugs are sold and bought openly on this day.

Ramesh Shrestha, a teenager at Pashupatinath area said, “Lord Shiva loves marijuana that’s one of his favorites, so we all come here to celebrate this for him. We are his devotees and we are bound to follow him; we want to make him happy.”    

Pashupatinath area was not only seen smoked and buzzed with intoxication but hundreds of medical camps and ambulances were also seen treating and catering thousands of people for their hallucination and injuries.

 Ravi Sharma, a social scientist said, “It’s a very harsh aspect of our culture where things are manipulated accordingly. Certainly it’s happening due to lack of monitoring and surveillances. The uses of these illicit drugs are just for the yogis and sadhus but irrelevantly they are sold to teenagers and it’s open for all. It has evolved as a negative trend in our society where people are grasping it into the culture which is highly questionable. Necessary steps need to be taken by authorities before it’s too late.”

 Looking at the growing trend of using illicit drugs, this year a high number of police personnel were seen in and around the Pashupatinath abode. According to sources almost 4000 security personnel wore deployed in plain and formal clothes to curb the trade and use.

The Ex-Monarch Gyanendra Shah and his consort Komal Shah were also seen in the Temple where after paying their homage, they headed towards Guheshwori Temple. Likewise, celebrating the enthusiasm an Indian dance group compromising various dancers including Santnu Chakraborty a renowned bharatnatyam dancer performed and the enigmatic and exaggerating Shiva Tandav at the abode.

For watching the full procession, you can see it through this given link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RXb6uaKKQE