July 4th: Pashupatinath temple and hindu funeral

Breakfast with friends

Sujan, Zenith and I stayed at a hotel knowing we'd be too drunk from the previous night. We met up with the Dutch girl from the night before for breakfast. Sujan and I were craving an American breakfast. I ordered Eggs Benedict with extra Nepalese sausage. That meal hit the spot.

New Orleans Cafe at dusk.

After breakfast, all four of us headed to Pashupatinath Temple to see one of the oldest Hindu temples in the world. We headed into the main square where the river runs through the Temple.

The temple of Pashupatinath is Nepal's most sacred Hindushrine and one of the subcontinent's great Shiva sites. Pashupatinath, alongside the sacred Bagmati River, is the holiest place in Nepal going back many centuries. Pashupatinath's holiness has two major parts. One is that Shiva linga enshrined in the main temple and its location on the banks of Bagmati. Hindu devotee plunge into the holy Bagmati river daily and recite the verse from the ancient Vedas. It is believed that plunging or bathing into the holy river releases from the cycle of rebirth.

It is believed that sex organ of Shiva fell to Nepal. The main temple of Pashpati nath (meaning Lord of Beasts believed to be divine protector of Nepal) contains a lingam of Pashupati, which is three and a half feet high and has four faces sculptured on it.

The smoke is from dead bodies being cremated.

A new cremation being staged at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.

At this temple, it's customary to creamte dead love ones every single day. When we visited the site on Saturday, there was a ceremony for the deceased. I felt pretty uncomfortable to take photos of a dead body, so I do not have any documentation of the process. I can tell you how it went up until the actual burning. I left before that happened.

First, a few men build a wooden bed to put the deceased on. Once the bed is ready, the men carry the body to the bed on a metal stretcher. The men rotate the stretcher five times in a circular formation. They then lay the body to rest on the wooden frame. Hay is laid on the deceased. That's all I watched. I left due to the fact that I was a tourist and not part of the man's family. I didn't think it was appropriate to witness a cremation of a person I did not know or a religion I did not share with others around me.

Family members and other Hindus watching the cremation. These seats will be packed when a politician or celebrity dies.

The wooden bed is created with logs and hay.

This video shows exactly how this tradition is done. The video is graphic. Be advised.

After the Temple, we walked back to the car. Before we could even leave the property, I saw these cute little things.

We headed back to Sujan's place for another amazing home cooked meal. Tomorrow I will plan my trip to Pokhara and Chitwan.