On the banks of the Bagmati

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Pashupatinath is the most sacred temple for Hindu's in Nepal, and supposedly the most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated after Varanasi in India. It's location suprised me in that it is positioned extremely close to Tribhuvan Airport and on a rather uninspiring stretch of the Bagmati river which was extremely polluted. Having said that the place is obviously sacred and on the day we visited seemed a hive of religious activity with the temple area itself, the bridge across and the platforms opposite from where we observed, completely lined with people. The strong smells wafting up from the cremations and the eerie sound of solitary bells made this place instantly quite inforgettable. My guide very delicately explained the preparations and routines that families undertake when a relative dies. The male family members will cut their hair in certain way and bear the body through the temple and down to the riverside. There the body is prepared by washing in the river and anointing with several different substances. The cremation piles of wood with cedar and other elements are prepared by temple workers who get paid by the families and then the cremation takes place. This is all watched by (or was on this occasion) hundreds of people some known, some strangers. The grief and distress was extremely public and this seems quite a cultural difference compared with the way things are done in the west. My guide went on to tell me about cremations in his own family, how the ones performed here give the deceased the best possible send off to the beyond. It was extremely interesting, if not a little strange to be seeing on a holiday. The awkwardness of tourist groups seemed dispersed by the sheer number of local people who come to have a good look and do not disguise their interest. I did feel slightly awkward though if i'm honest and was just waiting, hoping no-one with a large lens camera would be focusing in too much and intruding into a family's grief. I did see one tourist do this in a very obvious way and saw a guide very politely suggested he stop. I might have been a bit ruder if it were my family member. The Nepali people seem a very polite, sincere and quite reticent (apart from the street sellers whose job it is to hassle tourists!) and this continued throughout my trip without exception.

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