Haarthi on the banks of Bagmati river - Sri Pasupathinath Temple, Kathmandu

Rivers are holy and on the banks of rivers many civilizations prospered.  The Bagmati River runs through the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal and separates Kathmandu from Patan. It is considered holy by both Hindus and Buddhists. A number of Hindu temples are located on its banks.  

Pashupatinath Temple is a beautiful ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, at  Kathmandu, Nepal.  This is a World Heritage site – the  "extensive Hindu temple precinct" is a "sprawling collection of temples, ashrams, images and inscriptions raised over the centuries along the banks of the sacred Bagmati river", and is one of seven monument groups in UNESCO's designation of Kathmandu Valley. The temple is one of the Paadal Petra Sthalams  

According to Gopalraj Aalok Vamsavali, the oldest ever chronicle in Nepal, this temple was built by Prachanda Deva, a Licchavi King, who according to the stone inscription erected by Jayadeva 11 in the courtyard of Pashupatinath in 753 AD. The area of Pashupatinath encompasses 0.64 hectares of land including 518 temples and monuments.   

As many of us would have witnessed, on the banks of holy Ganga mata at Haridwar and many other places at dusk – ‘famous ganga aarthi’ takes place.  During our visit to Nepal in 2018, we were lucky to have darshan of the elaborate ‘aarthi’ on the banks of the river adjacent to Sri Pasupathinath temple.   Here are two  short videos of the Haarathi in the twilight. : https://youtu.be/VsKB9SBZNvc  &   https://youtu.be/SF7-u8AhpHo

adiyen dhasan
Srinivasan Sampathkumar
13.12.2022