Jyothir Lingam Kathmandu

" Jeevatyaksham Jeeva vantyam Jeevana Jeevana Rakshagam |
Jeevakrut Jeevaharanam Jyothirswaroopam Namamyagam||

Pasupathinath temple at Kathmandu in Nepal is a holy 'Jyothir linga Kshetram. The Devi here is Mahamayi.
 

The famous Pashupateswara temple is on the banks of river Baghmati. This temple is the most famous 'Jothir Linga Kshetra'. This is also one of the ' 51 Sakthi Sthalams '. People from all over the world come to this temple in pilgrimage throughout the year. Specially on the 'Sivaratri' day the crowd of devotees is huge.

Legend says that Shiva once took the form of a deer and playfully roamed around in the forest on Bagmati river's east bank. The gods caught hold of the deer by its horn and forced the Lord to resume his divine form and get back to Kailash. However horn broke. The broken horn was being worshipped as a linga. Over a period of time the 'horn' got buried and people forgot all about it. Centuries later a cow-herd found one of his cows showering milk on a small mound under a tree. Digging at the site, he discovered the divine linga of Pashupatinath in " Jyothiswaroopa".

The entrance gate to the temple is an impressive structure with beautifully painted images of Ganesha and a Devatha on the sides surmounted by an image of Shiva standing with his trident in the center of the Himalayas.

From the doorway the view of the main temple is blocked by gold-plated metal Nandi (Bull) Entering the compound one could find a large space and a huge Pasupathinath temple. This is a marvelous structure, square with a double tiered wooden roof surmounted by gold-plated spires. The upper roof is about half the size of the lower, and the corners of both curves upward. The structure is in the Japanese style.

The whole out sides of the temple is beautifully carved with wooden figures colourfully repainted at the time of King Mahendra's coronation in 19th centuary. There is a symbol of Lord Panchmukhi (five-faced) lingam of Pashupatinath.

The lingam is made of black stone, about 130 cms high, with a face carved on each of its sides. This is to make the people know that the Almighty god is 'vedha-swaroopa' (incarnation of the four vedas). On top of the lingam is a 'Shree Chakara', representing the fifth face. Below each face is a pair of hands raised in benediction.

This temple is in golden color.The devotees themselves do 'abishegam' to the Lingam with the water from the River Bhagmathi. There is an idol of 'Nandi' Lord shiva's mount. This has been fully covered with gold-plate

Pasupathinath temple is one of the most famous shrines in the world located as it is in the Himalayas - in proximity to Kailash. In worshipping the God and the Goddess here the devotees attain 'moksha' in the here-after'.

Location

The Pasupathynath temple is 3 kilo-meters

from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal

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