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Kathmandu, Feb 17: Sadhus and saints, including Naga Babas who arrived at Pashupatinath for Maha Shivaratri, will be formally seen off today with cash offerings and donations.

There is a long-standing practice in which the Guthi Sansthan and the Pashupati Area Development Trust bid farewell to the visiting sadhus on the day of Falgun Krishna Aunsi. The ascetics usually arrive at Pashupati on Falgun Krishna Ekadashi ahead of the festival.

According to former deputy administrator of the Guthi Sansthan Deepak Bahadur Pandey, who has coordinated the farewell program many times, the tradition dates back to 1831 BS. It began after Jagat Jung, the eldest son of Jung Bahadur Rana, established the Jagannand Prakasheshwor Guthi.

This year, the Sansthan has set aside about Rs 3 million for the farewell program. Colored cards, red, blue, white, yellow, and green, were distributed to the visiting sadhus on the day of their arrival. The amount of cash each sadhu receives depends on the category indicated by the card.

The Sansthan said the cash offering has been increased for Naga Babas and other sadhus who came from outside Nepal so that they can at least reach the nearest border on their return.

Around four thousand sadhus from outside Nepal are currently staying in different locations in the Pashupati area. These include the Gorakhnath Math, the Ramchandra Temple across Aryaghat, Bhasmeshwar Akhada, Nirmala Akhada, and other spots within the Pashupati premises. Each site hosts ascetics from different sects, said Pashupati Area Development Trust treasurer Shridhar Sapkota.

He explained that in the past, visiting sadhus were first fed at Pashupati and then seen off with offerings from Kalmocan Ghat in Thapathali. There was a belief that since those killed in the Kot massacre were cremated at Kalmocan, sending off the sadhus from there during Shivaratri would help bring peace to the departed souls. That practice has now been discontinued. At present, the sadhus are bid farewell from the western main gate of Pashupati.

Similar farewell arrangements are also being made today at the Bairagi Akhada, Udasi Akhada, Sanyasi Akhada, and Nath Akhada located at Kalmocan Ghat, where other groups of Naga Babas and sadhus have been staying. Those ascetics will still be seen off directly from Kalmocan.

After the Donation Transparency and Worship Management Regulation came into force at Pashupatinath Temple on April 8, 2012, the Pashupati Area Development Trust also began providing meals and cash offerings to visiting sadhus from the Maha Shivaratri of 2013.

According to Shila Pant, a member of the Trust’s governing council and coordinator of the Sadhu Service and Religious Program Subcommittee, the Trust has prepared a graded cash distribution plan. Twenty sadhus will receive Rs 5,001 each. Two hundred sadhus will receive Rs 1,001.

One thousand sadhus will receive Rs 701 each, and another one thousand will get Rs 501. About 1,300 sadhus will receive Rs 301. All jogis will receive Rs 201, and everyone seated in the general line will receive Rs 101.

The Trust has allocated Rs 800,000 for these cash offerings.

Along with the money, the Trust is preparing to bid farewell to the sadhus by offering rudraksha beads that were donated at Pashupatinath throughout the year.

Pandey said the Sansthan has also purchased fifty thousand kilograms of firewood worth about Rs 7 million so that the visiting Naga Babas and sadhus could maintain their sacred fires for five days inside the temple area and four days outside during the festival period.

The Trust also reported that since the donation transparency system was introduced on April 8, 2012, offerings collected in the Trust’s donation boxes have reached Rs 1.5 billion, helping position Pashupatinath as one of Nepal’s most well-managed temples.

People’s News Monitoring Service