Kathmandu. The Pashupati Area Development Trust has informed that the four gates of the main temple have been opened from 3:00 am for devotees coming to visit Pashupatinath on the Haritalika (Teej) festival.

The four gates of Pashupatinath have been opened from 3:00 am, especially to make arrangements for Hindu women to visit easily, informed the Trust’s acting member secretary Subhas Chandra Joshi.

After the four gates were opened, work has been done for the necessary services, such as security, volunteer service, provision of sandal prasad, arrangement and improvement of the darshan path, arrangement of a place to keep shoes and slippers, emergency health service, entertainment songs along with worship, bhajan kirtan, Deepawali, and provision of a place for devotees to offer cow dana, he said.

Four queues have been arranged to enter the Pashupatinath temple from the outside of the Pashupati area. The first queue will enter the temple premises through Gaurighat-Umakunda-Dakshinamurti-Rudragadeshwar-Vasuki, exit through the west main gate, and return from the Kailash South Shoe Shop, taking the shoes and slippers.

The second queue will enter the temple premises through Mitrapark-Jayabageshwori-Panchaganesh-Bhimsensthan-Bhuvaneshwori-Shankaracharya Math South, exit through the west main gate, and return from the Shankaracharya Math South Shoe Shop.

The third queue, Pingalasthan-Charashivalaya-Panchadeval-Vajraghar-South Gate, has been arranged to enter the temple premises from the small gate next to Kotiliteshwar Temple, exit through the South Gate, and return from the temporary shoe storage room constructed in front of Panchadeval.

The fourth queue, Tilganga-Ram Temple, crosses the east bank of the Bagmati River, enters through the east gate of Shri Pashupatinath Temple, exits through the east gate, and returns from the temporary shoe storage room next to the bridge near Aryaghat. Eight queues have been arranged inside the main temple, informed Joshi, Acting Member Secretary of the Trust.

He said that arrangements have been made to open all four doors of the temple from 3:00 in the morning so that the devotees can have their darshan quickly and return. Arrangements have been made to allow visitors to view the temple from outside, even during the Shree Yantra Puja performed at the Pashupatinath temple, by placing a net.

For the convenience of visitors and other devotees returning from the Pashupatinath temple premises, arrangements have been made to distribute sandalwood outside the west gate of the temple at Sanosadavarta Sattal, Panchadeval Purbadakshin, Umakunda, Dakshinamurthy, Tilganga Vanakali, Gaushala, and Jayabageshwori.

Tourists from third countries who have paid the tourist entry fee and purchased tickets will be allowed to visit the fair area (except the temple premises), said Anita Bhatta, the information officer of the fund. She also said that arrangements have been made on the right and left sides of the Bhakuntol-Vanakali road for religious activities performed by devotees using Brahmins such as Gaudan and Purnapatro.

The Trust has requested devotees not to wear valuable jewellery and not to bring children with them to visit Pashupatinath. Arrangements have been made that daily devotees of Pashupatinath can enter through any of the four gates mentioned above and have darshan only till 5:30 am.

Treasurer of the Trust, Narayan Prasad Subedi, informed that no kind of pass has been arranged for visiting the temple. (RSS)