"Shiva's most pleasant and creative side" Pashupatinath by josephescu

Pashupatinath on the banks of the Bagmati holy river is the Nepali equivalent of the Varanassi in India – a pilgrimage centre for ritual baths and a popular place to be cremated, in preparation for the next incarnation.

Hence, many temples, shikharas, shrines and ghats for the ritual bathing and cremation have been constructed along the centuries and, although most of them date back from earlier periods, the monuments you will see are the result of the renovation works in the 17th and 19th centuries. Among them, the Pashupathi Temple, boasting the largest and most extended precinct of a Hindu temple in the whole Kathmandu Valley.

Of the many incarnations Shiva has in the pantheon of gods, Pashupati is a peaceful one, being the lord of the beasts, a shepherd of both animals and humans. Thus, it is generally considered that Pashupati shows the Shiva’s most pleasant and creative side.

Pashupathi is considered to have a special concern for Nepal and, accordingly, he features in all official messages form the king, before commencing an important journey, the king will always pay a visit to Pashupatinath to seek the god’s blessing,

• In a nutshell:A good place to think about the meaning of life