Maha Shivaratri being observed today

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Maha Shivaratri, one of the biggest festivals of Hindus, is being marked by paying homage to Lord Shiva on Wednesday.

Pashupatinath Temple, one of the most revered Shiva temples, is decorated particularly for the auspicious day of Shivaratri. Over a million devotees from home and abroad visit Pashupatinath temple in Maha Shivaratri.

Raju Kumar Khatri, Coordinator of the Festival Market and Decoration Sub-Committee, said that they started installing electric lights on Friday and decorating the area with flowers on Tuesday. All the routes leading to the main temple are fully covered with garlands of marigolds and other flowers.

Khatri said that the Pashupati area is decorated with electric lights and flowers on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri spending about Rs 3.7 million received from donors. Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) has not invested to import flowers, he informed.

“The PADT has only coordinated and facilitated. Donors themselves moblised workers for the decoration. It is funding the painting and artwork of Lord Shiva and Parvati on the vacant walls of the Pashupatinath area,” Khatri said.

On the eve of Shivaratri, workers were busy decorating the area with flowers on Tuesday. Some were giving the final touch while others were hanging the flowers on the walls and by the steel supports erected above the routes leading to the main temple.

The number of saints and sadhus in the Pashupati area is expected to increase significantly on Maha Shivaratri this year due to the influence of the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, India.

Sadhus in large numbers from various places, including neighbouring India, have arrived for the Maha Shivaratri festival.