KATHMANDU: President Bidya Devi Bhandari performed Puja at Pashupatinath Temple and received the offerings on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.
President Bhandari reached the Temple, one of the holiest Hindu shrines, on Friday evening. The ritual has it that the Head of the State offers the worship in this shrine of Lord Shiva on Maha Shivaratri, the day Lord Shiva is believed to be born.
President Bhandari was received by Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, also the Chairperson of the Pashupati Area Development Trust Yogesh Bhattarai and member-secretary of the Trust Dr Pradeep Dhakal as well as the other officials of the Trust.
Member-secretary Dhakal told RSS that the President performed the worship in the Temple as per the ritual. The head priest of the Temple Rawal Ganesh Bhatta presented the President with Prasad of the Pashupatinath upon the worship.
Similarly, Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun also reached the Temple and worshiped the Lord Shiva ritually.
Maha Shivaratri, which falls on the Falgun Krishna Chaturdashi as per the lunar calendar, was observed with great fervor in honor of Lord Shiva. On the occasion, more than 700,000 devotees had paid homage to Pashupathinath shrine till late evening on Friday, according to the Trust.
It is believed that by worshiping Lord Shiva, also known as the Mahadev (the Lord of the Lords) and by observing a fast and doing various religious activities, one would be blessed with good fortune and absolved with the sins.
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