It was the night time earlier than a brand new moon, and a rotating palette of shade, reflecting off the buildings, floated like a halo within the mist. Silhouettes of cows dotted my periphery, accompanied by the light rustle of their grazing on the riverbank.
As I approached the middle of the advanced, the crowds pressed nearer collectively, filling each inch of the paths and ghats, a time period for stairways within the Indian subcontinent, lining the sacred Bagmati River. Those that weren’t huddled underneath umbrellas or shielded by plastic baggage appeared content material sufficient to stay it out within the rain.
I had visited this Hindu temple earlier than — Pashupatinath, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal — however solely within the broad daylight, and by no means amongst so many individuals.
The scents of burning wooden, marijuana and incense stuffed the air — as did the spiced smoke of corpses being cremated on the far facet of the river. Rhythmic claps and chimes bounced across the temple partitions, in tandem with the night prayer taking part in over the loudspeaker.
I used to be experiencing the sensory abundance of Maha Shivaratri, the Nice Night time of Shiva.
Yearly, 1000’s of celebrants collect at Pashupatinath in honor of Shiva, considered one of Hinduism’s three most revered gods. The pageant commemorates the marriage night time of Shiva and Parvati, a Hindu goddess. In keeping with the Linga Purana, a sacred Hindu textual content, it additionally marks the day that Shiva took the type of the lingam, an object — typically seen within the West as a phallic image — that’s usually present in temples and that represents the god’s infinite existence.
Attendees of Maha Shivaratri mark the holy pageant with a variety of prayers and rituals. Devotees start bathing within the river at dawn, and descend the ghats all through the day to be cleansed. A puja, or worship ritual, is carried out each three hours on the Shiva lingam by bathing it with water, milk and honey alongside choices of fruit, sandalwood paste and incense. “Om Namah Shivaya,” the sacred mantra of Shiva, echoes by way of the temple advanced to invoke the interior consciousness and invite readability and prosperity. Working towards Hindus enter the primary temple, which is lined with sneakers that guests have eliminated, to be blessed by the temple clergymen. Some contributors observe a quick, whereas others purpose to remain awake all by way of the night time.
As a holy providing to Shiva, Sadhus — Hindu holy males who put on saffron-colored clothes (or, sometimes, none in any respect) — smoke marijuana out of chillums, or conventional clay pipes, sharing with these round them.
After I attended the pageant, in February 2020, a participant dressed as Kali, the Hindu mom goddess typically depicted with wild hair and a necklace of skulls, walked across the temple grounds with an outstretched tongue, bulging eyes and 4 arms. She brushed passers-by with a bundle of peacock feathers, inviting them to put financial choices onto her platter.
However as is commonly the case with festivals that entice guests from around the globe, there have been additionally individuals who got here purely for the spectacle, or to take pleasure in time with household and buddies in an impressive — even mystical — setting.
Wanting again on these pictures, because the world remains to be grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, I discover that the visible splendor is much less putting than the sight of the crowds in such proximity.
Maha Shivaratri could be the final large-scale occasion that I — and certainly 1000’s of the opposite contributors — would attend earlier than the virus’s unfold across the globe.
However on the time, proximity wasn’t but a priority. Many people bumped and nudged our methods by way of the dense crowds. Strangers seated collectively in a small temple, we sat shoulder to shoulder, handed round a shared chillum and thoughtlessly shared the air.
Pashupatinath is usually used as a cremation web site, however the day of Maha Shivaratri is a very auspicious time for Hindus to move on to the subsequent life.
Earlier within the night, households had dipped the toes and washed the our bodies of their deceased family members — wearing orange and marigold — with the holy water of the Bagmati River.
Now, as I left the temple, the air turning brisk because the collective warmth of all of the shut our bodies gave approach to the cool air, I caught sight of 5 lit pyres, their orange flames set in opposition to the darkish night time sky.