KATHMANDU: Naga Babas and other sadhus who arrived at Pashupatinath Temple for Maha Shivaratri are being bid farewell today with offerings and donations.
It has been a long-standing tradition for the Guthi Sansthan and the Pashupati Area Development Trust to formally bid farewell to the sadhus on the day of Falgun Krishna Aunsi. The ascetics had arrived at Pashupatinath on Falgun Krishna Ekadashi for the festival.
According to former deputy administrator of the Guthi Sansthan Deepak Bahadur Pande, the tradition dates back to 1775, when Jagat Jung, the eldest son of Jung Bahadur, established the Jagannath Prakasheshwor Guthi.
The Guthi Sansthan has allocated around Rs 3 million for the farewell ceremony. Colored cards—red, blue, white, yellow and green—were distributed to Naga Babas and other sadhus upon their arrival, and donations are being provided based on the category indicated by the cards. The institution stated that the amount has been increased for sadhus coming from outside Nepal to help them travel to the nearest border.
More than 4,000 sadhus from outside Nepal have been staying at various locations in the Pashupati area, including Gorakhnath Math, Ramchandra Temple across Aryaghat, Bhasmeshwar Akhada and Nirmala Akhada. Treasurer of the Trust, Shreedhar Sapkota, said different sects of sadhus are residing in different locations.
Previously, Naga Babas and other ascetics were served meals and bid farewell from Kalamochan Ghat in Thapathali. It was believed that bidding farewell to sadhus from the site, where those killed in the Kot massacre were cremated, would bring peace to departed souls. That tradition has now been discontinued, and sadhus are currently being seen off from the western main gate of Pashupatinath.
Similarly, Naga Babas and sadhus staying at the Bairagi, Udasi, Sanyasi and Nath akhadas at Kalamochan Ghat are also being bid farewell today with donations.
Since the implementation of the transparent donation and worship management regulation at Pashupatinath Temple on Chaitra April 8, 2012, the Trust has been providing meals and donations to sadhus from Maha Shivaratri 2013 onwards.
Trust executive member Shila Pant said preparations have been made to distribute donations ranging from Rs 101 to Rs 5,001, depending on category. The Trust has allocated Rs 800,000 for this purpose. Sadhus will also be offered rudraksha beads that were offered at the temple throughout the year.
For Maha Shivaratri, 50,000 kilograms of firewood worth Rs 700,000 were purchased to keep sacred fires burning for five days inside the temple premises and four days outside, Pande said.
The Trust also stated that since the transparent donation system came into effect, offerings collected in the temple’s donation boxes have reached Rs 150 million.
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