Rebirth of India: Superior

Papatinath, located east of Kathmandu, stands on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River. This is one of the most important Shiva temples in South Asia, so it attracts many Asian Hindu believers to make pilgrimages. Believers from neighboring India also come here to worship. But don’t think that any Hindu believer can enter this holy temple for pilgrimage. Before 2001, untouchables were not allowed to enter, and it was only after 2001 that it was allowed to open. The king of Nepal also comes here to pray before every trip.

Since the "Pasupati" temple is not allowed to non-Hindus, tourists can only stand on the hillside on the other side of the Bagmati River and pay attention to the temple. The entrance fee is 250 rupees. Believers are also not allowed to enter the temple. Of course, Shakru is not within the limit.

The Bagmati River is a sacred river, as important as the Ganges in India, and is a very popular cremation site. There is a footbridge over the Bagmati River, connecting the two banks and dividing the crematorium into two sides. The crematorium on the north side of the river is for civilians, while the south side of the river, where there is an orange flower stand, is for the royal family. , nobles, etc. use. The king, queen and other royal members of the Nepalese royal family tragedy were cremated here, but that was in 2001.

Perhaps it was because Shaklu and the others arrived relatively early. There was only one burning platform on the north side of the river, and a corpse burning platform on the south side of the river had already been arranged. It was covered with yellow flowers: Marigolds have a nice name. In fact, Even the yellow chrysanthemums we often see in flower beds are also called smelly hibiscus.

Even though he has been in India for several years, Shakru still disagrees with this way of handling corpses, and even hates it, so he has no intention of watching the cremation, so he followed his suggestion. The group of people came to the opposite bank of the temple, where there are rows of "Linga" caves.

In the center of the cave are placed the symbols of Shiva, "Linga" and "Yoni". When visiting the temple of Lord Shiva, you will often see a black, bald stone pillar about half a meter long standing in the center of the temple. One after another, Indian pilgrims paid homage to it. Among the Hindu gods, Shiva is the god of fertility. He has a huge penis all over his body.

The most common pillar-shaped object in Hindu temples actually represents men. Hindu believers call it Linga. Why do people kowtow to their male genitals in big temples? It turns out that since ancient times, Hindus have worshiped fertility and paid attention to the signs of genitals. Linga worship originated from the ancient Indus Valley Civilization period.

There is also a type of small terracotta sculpture corresponding to the linga, called yoni. The Yoni is shaped like a millstone with a hole in the middle. It is sometimes represented by a statue of a woman with a big belly, symbolizing human reproduction. Yoni statues come in many shapes and sizes, each different, but they all represent Goddess Parvarti, the wife of Lord Shiva. But in fact, Linga in Hinduism not only simply represents reproductive ability, but also has a deeper level of creativity.

Climbing up the steps next to the "Linga" cave, Shakru found many neatly arranged small houses. After asking, he found out that these small houses were all "hermit caves". The so-called "hermit cave" is actually a training place for some hermits or ascetics. The area is not large, about 1 to 2 square meters. There are windows on all sides to peek inside. It was found that there were pictures of "Lord Shiva" and other gods, as well as marigolds for worship.

"Hey, why are there no hermits practicing in these hermit caves?" Shaklu asked curiously.

Alok replied with some embarrassment: "Well, now there are almost no hermits or ascetics who stay in the cave to practice seriously, because "Pasupati" is a place that every tourist in Nepal must visit, so they all I can no longer meditate and practice They all went to the tourist viewing platform on the other side of the river to solicit guests to take photos with them and ask for money. Usually they would ask tourists for 100 to 200 rupees, but in fact they only wanted to give them 10 to 20 rupees. ....”

Shakru was a little speechless about this. In this case, are these guys hermits, another form of street performers, or simply beggars? Out of curiosity. Shakru ran to take a special look at these so-called "hermits" and found that they were dressed in different costumes. Some were naked with only a piece of rag wrapped around their vital parts, and some were fully clothed and wearing various accessories. The same thing was that they all kept their hair and beards extremely long, and they also maintained all kinds of strange behaviors This posture reminded Shakru of a report in his previous life, which said that an ascetic monk insisted on raising his right hand for more than 30 years. In the end, he couldn't put it down even if he wanted to put it down...

After resting at the top of the mountain, go down the stairs and you will arrive at a side door outside "Pasupati". Next to this side door, there is a small temple. The name of this temple is "guhyeswa day"

The temple is dedicated to Kali, the terrifying incarnation of the goddess "Parvati", Shiva's consort. Non-Hindus are also not allowed to enter. The name of this temple is a combination of the Sanskrit words "" and "goddess". Because there is such a story: Legend has it that one day Lord Shiva was insulted by his father-in-law, and his wife threw herself into the fire in anger. When Shiva learned about it, he was extremely sad and left with his wife's body in his arms. Along the way, her body slowly 's scattered, and hers fell here so the name of this temple is the Temple of the Goddess. This temple is weird enough, right?

Due to this legend, Hindu women have been treated cruelly in history. There was an unwritten custom in the history of Hinduism that if a husband died, his wife would jump into the fire during the cremation of her husband to show her loyalty to him, and burn to death with her husband. This cruel practice of burial was finally banned about 100 years ago, but in some remote areas of India and Nepal, this barbaric ritual is still carried out from time to time.

Another point that impressed Shakru was that the entire "Pasupathi" was more like a monkey paradise than a temple. Whether it was the main temple of "Pasupathi" or the viewing platform on the opposite bank, on the bridge, by the river, on the top of the mountain, as long as you could see, monkeys were everywhere. Because of the influence of the Nepalese belief that all things have life, and monkeys are sacred animals, these monkeys have become bold and reckless, and incidents of stealing, robbing, and smashing have occurred from time to time. The arrogance is comparable to that of the monkeys in Mount Emei. To be continued. .

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