The three-day celebration starts with an extravagant feast known as Dar (which falls tomorrow) and ends with Rishi Panchami when the Teej puja is performed. However, on the ‘fasting day’ or the main day (that falls on Sunday), hundreds of thousands of Nepali Hindu women fast for an entire day even without drinking water for marital bliss and flock to temples of Lord Shiva praying for the prosperity and longevity of their husbands.[break]
The Week
Last year, according to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), nearly 100,000 women had completed their worship ritual at the temple by eight in the morning. The temple gates opened before dawn from as early as three o’clock. It is estimated that more than 300,000 women throng the Pashupati Nath Temple on Teej every year, and this year is supposed to be no different.
However, since the premise is often crowded, you need to be adequately prepared if you wish to go to Pashupatinath on this day.
Preparations
If you want to carry out worship rituals inside the Pashupatinath Temple, then you won’t need to prepare the items to take along beforehand. You’ll need to pay Rs 1,100 at the counter outside and take the receipt with you to give to the Bhattas who will provide you with all things necessary. However, if you want to carry out a ritual outside the temple, there’ll be lots of pundits outside to help you but you’ll have to prepare all the necessary items and take them with you.
Wear light clothes. Though you might be dressed in heavy saris on Teej, change to lighter wear before heading to the temple. Wearing salwaar kurta can be easier when you have to stand in long queues for hours in the scorching heat. If you prefer saris, wear light cotton or silk ones instead of heavy brocade and chiffon. As for shoes, opt for flat ones instead of heels.
You’ll need to take off your shoes before you step inside the Mandir, and for this, there will be three centers where you can deposit your shoes. But these areas too tend to get chaotic and chances are that your shoes might be misplaced. So carry old newspapers or reusable bags to wrap your shoes in before putting it in your handbag. The regular shoe deposit centers won’t open till three in the afternoon but after that there’ll be additional places to drop them off.
Carry water. You might not be able to drink it but you can use it to spray your face and neck. Though water will be available at the temple premises, you might not be able to leave the line you’re in to get some. It will also be a good idea to carry an umbrella as the weather is pretty unpredictable these days and even if the day is bright and sunny, you can use it to shield yourself against the scorching sun.
Getting there
The traffic along Battisputali, Gyaneshwor, Mati Devi and Gaushala might be obstructed on the day of Teej, so if you live in the main city of Kathmandu – Putali Sadak, Dilli Bazaar, Singh Durbar and around, it might be best to walk. Taking the Ring Road instead of the inner city roads might also be a good idea. But you might not be able to find much parking space, especially if you are heading over during the daytime; so be prepared to park a little further away and walk the distance.
As people start queuing up from midnight, the area will be busy no matter what time you choose to visit. But to avoid the rush, you can opt to head over later in the evening when the crowd starts thinning out.
At the Temple
The four doors of the Pashupatinath Temple will be open from three in the morning till late in the evening for devotees to pay homage to Lord Shiva on this day. Devotees can stand in any of three queues to reach the temple while a fourth line is for those paying for tickets, special worshipers, volunteers, security forces and PADT employees.
Many women dance to the tunes of folk devotional songs after completing the worship ritual and there will be designated spaces available for this as well as well as volunteers to ensure your safety.
As usual, PADT plans to mobilize security personnel and volunteers to help manage the devotees pouring in throughout the day. There will also be ambulances, Red Cross and police on standby for any emergencies, so one can expect a well coordinated and planned event.
If you don’t want to reach the main temple but just want a glimpse of the festivities, then you can opt to walk around the holy Bagmati riverside and sit at one of the many benches in the area.
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