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| Kathmandu, Sunday March 02, 2003 Falgun 18, 2059. |
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Traditional pomp marks Mahashivaratri
festival
By Bikash Sangraula, Suvecha Pant and Tejasuee
Rajbhandari
KATHMANDU, March 1 : Tens of thousands devotees offered
prayers in the Pashupatinath Temple on the occasion of the Mahashivaratri festival today.
People queued up from early morning and waited for hours to get to the main temple where
adequate arrangements by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and elaborate
security arrangements made the darshan much easier and systematic than previous years.
King Gyanendra and Queen Komal were among the
thousands who paid their reverence to Lord Pashupatinath, the Hindu Kingdom’s
presiding deity. During Their Majesties’ entry into the temple, the crowd was cleared
and the nanga babas were specifically ordered to cover their bodies.
The Pashupatinath Temple, the renowned abode
of the God of Mokshya and a world heritage site, saw a remarkable influx of pilgrims, both
from the country and from outside. More than 200,000 pilgrims mainly from Nepal and India
and some also from abroad to the temple, congregated at the Pashupati complex.
While elaborate preparations had been made by
PADT, about 60 other organisations in the field to conduct the festival smoothly, the
turnout was something more than they had expected.
Earlier in the day, devotees had gathered at
Gaushala forming a gigantic mass of humanity that stretched upto Til Ganga. Traffic was
stopped from Old Baneshwor, Til Ganga, Mitra Park to Chabahil in order to provide space
for the pilgrims. Even that did not seem enough as more than 250,000 pilgrims ended up
visiting the temple, according to police sources.
Right from the morning, 1200 armed security
personnel and army patrols were deployed in the area. Similarly, over 1,500 volunteers
were alert to relieve pilgrims of any inconveniences. No serious injuries and sicknesses
were reported during the day. On the other hand, 10 people were arrested and held at the
community police post, Gaushala, for ill behaviour, according to police sources. The
loudspeakers of the community police post blazed time and again for the lost. Though
official figures of the lost are yet to be ascertained, police sources say that there were
a very insignificant number of cases.
While hundreds of thousands of Hindus stood
on serpentine queues under the scorching heat of the midday sun, empty-stomached and
patiently waiting for their turn to enter the temple, hundreds of tourists watched the
spectacle from east of the Bagmati river behind the temple. They took snaps of devotees
trying to navigate their way across the Bagmati river in a hurry to reach then temple.
Many pilgrims were wearing rudrakshya and had ashes on their forehead, a gesture of
respect to the festival.
The use of narcotics was considerably less
this time, according to police officer Gautam Khatiwada, who has been providing security
in the Pashupatinath temple during Mahashivaratri for the last eight years. "Due to
the demolition of houses in the area, the management was relatively easier this time.
There were a very few cases of citizens using narcotics and they were taken under control
immediately," he said. On the other hand, the sadhus were given the concession of
using narcotics this time as well, respecting tradition.
At the exit stood students from Ved
Vidhyashram, distributing Shrikhanda to the pilgrims. Similarly, there were volunteers
offering water to the thirsty at the main entrance of the temple. On the other side of the
area, the hungry were distributed free food by the saints residing at the Akhanda
Annapurna Ashram, bringing out the generous spirit of the occasion.
While the management was spic and span and
there were hardly any pilgrims complaining about the arrangements, some visitors from the
Terai were appalled by the polluted water at the Bagmati river. Traditionally, pilgrims
are supposed to take bath in the river before entering the temple. This time round, hardly
a few people attempted that gesture of purity.
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