On the auspicious occasion of Haritalika Teej, approximately 300,000 devotees visited the Pashupatinath Temple to offer prayers and worship.
According to Rewati Raman Adhikari, spokesperson of the Pashupati Area Development Trust, nearly 300,000 devotees had entered the main temple by 4 PM for darshan. Many more devotees were still in long queues, and the Trust assured that those in line would be allowed to enter for darshan throughout the day.
The four gates of the Pashupatinath Temple were opened as early as 3 AM this morning to accommodate the influx of worshippers. Although a brief rainfall caused some inconvenience to those in line, the weather cleared up, and more devotees began to enter the temple premises. To manage the large crowd, the Trust arranged four separate queues outside the temple, and once inside, two to three lines were organized for the main temple.
First Lady Sabita Poudel is scheduled to visit the Pashupatinath Temple today to offer prayers on the occasion of Teej. Additionally, Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Minister Badri Prasad Pandey, who also chairs the Trust’s Board of Directors, is expected to visit the Pashupati area to observe the arrangements.
To ensure safety, around 600 female police officers have been deployed inside the main temple. The Trust has restricted entry to women devotees only for Teej. To facilitate the maximum number of women worshippers, no special puja receipts were issued today, confirmed Narayan Prasad Subedi, Treasurer of the Trust.
