Pashupatinath

Pashupatinath Temple

The Pashupatinath Temple is a famous 5th century Hindu Temple. Pashupathinath means the master or lord of all animal. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Shiva, the destroyer, is historically the god most worshipped in the country. He may be worshipped as the holy ascetic, depicted with his consort Parvati and holding a trident and a small drum(damaru) or more often in the form of the linga, an elongated stone representing his generative powers. The most important linga is situating in the holy shrine of Pashupatinath. In front of Shiva temples one usually sees a statue of Nandi, the divine bull that serves as Shiva’s vehicle. It is Located in the Eastern parts of kathmandu on the Banks of Bagmati River.

Story of Pashupatinath Temple

There are several stories related to pashupathinath, some are presented below;

In hindu mythology it is always said that Lord Shiva arranges various lilla ( play, act, drama) to check the patience of his devotees, to teach a lesson, and bless the needy and worthy.

It is said that Lord Shiva once took the form of an antelope and sported unknown in the forest on Bagmati river's east bank. The gods were worried and started searching for him. Gods knew that unlike other gods and goddess Lord shiva  dwells only in earth. They searched everywhere but couldn't find him. Finally they knew that lord Shiva was disguished in form of an antelope in the forest near Bagmati river. The gods then pleaded Lord shiva to return back to his original body. But Lord Shiva in form of the antelope tried to  run away. Gods tried to stop him by grabbing him by the horn, that made a horn get broken and thus Lord Shiva resume his divine form. The broken horn was worshipped as a linga but overtime it was buried and lost. 

Many years later an astonished cowherd found that his milking cows were always out of milk. He wanted to find out the truth thus he followed his cows and saw his cows showering the earth with milk. Digging deep at the site, he discovered the divine linga of Pashupatinath.

 Another story goes this way



After the bloody war of Mahabratha was over, the Pandavas realized that everything in this earth is meant to get destroyed. Their time to taste death was coming near since they were getting old every day. Thus they wished to atone for the sins of killing lots of people during the war.Thus, they handed over the reigns of their kingdom to Pareekshit ( Grandson of Arjun and Subhhara, son of Abhimanyu and uttra) and left in search of the Lord Shiva and to seek his blessings. First, they went to the holy city of Varanasi (Kashi), believed to Lord Shiva's favourite city and famous for its Lord Shiva temple. 

 But, Lord Shiva  avoided them as he wanted to test Pandavas devotion and patience. Therefore, he assumed the form of a bull (Nandi) and hid in the Garhwal region.

Not finding Lord Shiva in Varanasi, the Pandavas went to Garhwal Himalayas. Bhima, the second of the five Pandava brothers, saw a bull grazing near Guptakashi (“hidden Kashi” — the name derived from the hiding act of Lord Shiva). Bhima immediately recognized the bull to be Lord Shiva. Bhima caught hold of the bull by its tail and hind legs. As it is a tradition in hinduism to touch the legs of elders for blessing. But the bull-formed Lord Shiva disappeared into the ground to later reappear in parts, with the hump raising in Kedarnath, the arms appearing in Tunganath, the nabhi (navel) and stomach surfacing in Madhyamaheshwar, the face showing up at Rudranath the head appearing in Kalpeshwar. The Pandavas pleased with this reappearance in five different forms, built temples at the five places for venerating and worshipping Lord Shiva. The Pandavas were thus freed from their sins. It is also believed that the fore portions(linga) of Lord Shiva appeared at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu — the capital of Nepal.