Thousands of people gathered the 21st of february at the sacred Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, for the celebration of Maha Shivaratri, a major annual festival in honour of the Hindu deity Shiva.
ABOUT SHIVA
For those of you unaware of who Shiva is. He is considered one of the most important Hindu gods and thus widely worshipped.
There are different traditions of Hinduism. But, in general, Shiva is recognised by most Hindus as “the Destroyer” of the universe. Following this perspective, he is seen as a part of the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity in which the deity Brahma is recognised as “the Creator” of the universe and Vishnu as “the Preserver”.
Another major tradition, called Shaivism, sees Shiva as “the Supreme Being”. This means that followers of this tradition recognise Shiva as not only the destroyer, but also as the creator and preserver of the universe.
Either way, Shiva is a big deal in the Hindu religion and even though he is worshipped throughout the year, the night of Maha Shivaratri is special.
BACKGROUND INFO FESTIVAL
This festival is celebrated once a year and marks the beginning of the summer. Maha Shivaratri or ‘The Great Night of Shiva’ is regarded as the night when Shiva married his consort Parvati, the Hindu goddess of fertility and love. Also, it is believed that Shiva performed the cosmic dance during this night. In Shaivism, this dance represents the circle of life and is believed to be the source of the energy for the creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe.
In general, this festival marks a remembrance of overcoming darkness and ignorance in life. Devotees will be chanting, praying, meditating and fasting in honour of Shiva. For many, this night symbolises change. A night to gain energy to become a better person. As Shiva represents the destroyer, devotees hope to attain the ability to destroy in order to pave the way for something new.
MAHA SHIVARATRI 2020 AT PASHUPATINATH
I was present to witness this year’s celebration of Maha Shivaratri at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The Pashupathi area is located alongside the banks of the Bagmati river not too far away from the international airport in Kathmandu. It has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and is said to be the most sacred place in Nepal. It has direct ties to Shiva as Pashupati is his incarnation known as “Lord of the animals”. Besides being a sacred and ancient location, the Pashupati area is also a cremation site and thus a very personal place for Hindus.
All of the above makes it a very important and holy location to celebrate Maha Shivaratri.
On the day of the festival I was unaware of this celebration taking place. That changed when I saw huge waiting lines leading up to the gates of the Pashupati area. Never before have I seen such queues. Hundreds and hundres of meters long and then when you think it has ended it continues to zag-zag through the little streets leading up to the entrance of the Pashupatinath temple. Maybe the most surprising part of all was that the people were actually waiting in a decent line behind one another. In my experience, waiting lines and Hindus rarely mix.
Before going to this festival I mentally prepared myself to be stuck in a waiting line for quite a while. I really dislike such queues, but I was feeling some FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). It has to be noted that when I saw those lines of people for the first time that day, it was around 9AM. Since I had some other stuff to do as well, it was only possible for me to be going around 4PM. So, I was hoping that those would have gotten remarkably shorter by the late afternoon. That was not the case, but it turns out that foreigners can skip those waiting lines and enter immediately. What a privilege.
Many of the people going that day want to pay their respects at the huge golden bull statue inside the Pashupatinath temple. This statue represents Shiva and is famous because of its enormous size. Unfortunately, foreigners are not allowed to enter this temple and can only see the giant golden bull from afar.
The amount of people present for Maha Shivaratri was unbelievable. I haven’t felt this way since I experienced Diwali in India. More than once did I get stuck in a crowd. At some point, apparently, the president of Nepal was about to arrive. People were losing their heads over this. I was stuck in the middle of a huge crowd wearing flip-flops and everybody started pushing one another. The weather was changing as well. It had started to rain and the ground turned into a pool of mud. After some pushing and desperately trying to hold on to my ‘shoes’, I got free of that circle of chaos. I did not really care about seeing, what would be, a glimpse of the president. So, instead I entered this peaceful garden where some decorations made out of flowers were set up. All designed in a way to honour Shiva and the Hindu culture.
This celebration would last all night, but not me. The weather was grim, my clothes wet, my feet covered in mud, and I was too tired to be able to handle this crowd. Before I left, I decided to stay a little longer in the parc with the flowers. I sat down and watched the people go back and forth. I watched how they prayed, visited the golden bull, how they take selfies at every single decoration, and how they, sometimes, give money to the babas or saddhus. A saddhu is a holy person in Hinduism who has rejected a worldly life and has devoted himself to the path of spiritual discipline. There were many of them present, man and woman. All sitting at the sides on the ground. Some were fingerpainting tilaka’s and giving spiritual advice to people passing by. They do, however, always expect compensation, because they live off donations.
I exited the Maha Shivaratri festival around 20 PM. It was not what I had expected, but that doesn’t mean I did not like it. Festivals like these are always a culturally enriching experience. Also, it can be quite humbling when you notice the absolute devotion of some of those people. It also reminds you, especially when you see such long waiting lines, how religious the people are in these parts of the East. Something which is in stark contrast with the West.
I did, however, expected more organised activities for the visitors. But, who knows, maybe that was yet to come. After all, Maha Shivaratri is translated into “the Great Night of Shiva” and the night was still young when I left.
