KATHMANDU, Feb 23: The number of Sadhus or holy men visiting Pashupatinath temple from India during the Shivaratri festival this year has gone down dramatically.Officials at the Goshwara Guthi Office at Pashupatinath said some 1,650 Sadhus have turned up at the temple to celebrate Mahashivaratri, down from about 2,500 last year. The number is way below what the temple authorities had expected.
The Guthi Office is entrusted with hospitality for the visiting Sadhus. [break]
Megh Raj Sapkota, chief of Goswara Guthi Office, said the Sadhus have complained that a large number of their colleagues did not want to come this time as the government recently tried to dismiss the Indian priest at the temple. The Sadhus are also not happy over the government’s decision on May 18, 2006 to declare a secular state.
Under a tradition going back over two centuries, a Brahmin priest from south India officiates at Pashupatinath temple. The Maoist-led government recently sacked the Indian priest and appointed a Nepali in his place, only to revoke the decision about a week later due to pressure from various quarters.
Sapkota said the Sadhus have alleged that the Guthi Office did not play its proper role even when the government tried to interfere in the temple’s centuries-old tradition and culture. "We have our representatives in the Indian parliament. We will raise the issue there," he quoted the agitating Sadhus, who picketed the Guthi Office Sunday evening, as saying.
"The complaints have proved us wrong in our surmise over the reason for a low turnout," said Sapkota. "We had guessed that prolonged strikes along various sections of the East-West Highway in the Tarai had rendered the Sadhus unable to come."
Officials at Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) said the number of Sadhus visiting the temple during this one of the greatest among Hindu festivals would stand at over 5,000 until two years ago. Every year, the festival celebrated in honor of Lord Shiva attracts thousands of Sadhus from India.
Bikash Karki
Last year, the government had tightened the inflow of Indian Sadhus after receiving what it said was credible information about infiltration of thousands of fundamentalist Hindu activists to join the festival and then lead crowds of devotees in support of like-minded groups in demanding a Hindu Kingdom.
The government decision to check the inflow of Sadhus coupled with the declaration of Nepal as a secular state had caused a sharp decrease in the number of Sadhus coming since last year, according to PADT officials.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
