Pashupatinath: the river of the dead
Kneeling, head down, man waits patiently for his head shaved, a rite de duelo Hindu. His late father is now a handful of ashes, in the waning fire, about to join the current holy Bagmati River. A few tourists aim their telephoto lenses from a nearby bridge. Can you imagine a group of Japanese poachers photographing his family during the funeral of a loved one?
Pashupatinath, the main Hindu Temple in Nepal, happens to be the Benares of the Nepalese. "The atmosphere is completely impregnated with special sacrum that terror emanating from places where there Shiva” (Pashupati is one of the names of this deity), wrote about this sacred place Alexandra David-Neel. Rebuilt several times, a major rehabilitation work is due to Rajá Pratapa Malla, that in the seventeenth century boasted a harem of more than 3.000 concubines. Not content with such a cohort of women, violated the sovereign quarrelsome one day a girl, who died for the sexual brutality of Raja. Appalled, retired to Pashupatinath to purge his sin and donated huge amounts of money and land to beautify the temples and expand the area of the enclosure.
Here, along the river Bagmati, small fires incinerated the bodies of the dead, that turned to ashes thrown into the bed of this tributary of Ganges. In a society as marked by caste, at the time of death there are classes. Members of the upper classes are incinerated at the foot of the main temple, while the needy have to celebrate the funeral rites across the bridge over the sacred river, favorite place for tourists to try to photograph a ceremony so shocking.
Halterofilia penis
To arrive at Pashupatinath have to drive five miles down the road from the airport. Upon arrival, the first thing that stands out is the large number of monkeys that swarm Shrine temples, well nourished also shoddy sadhus and fakirs of innate abilities, always willing to be photographed for a few rupees. The real shadus, which also exist, live on charity after renouncing any material good and pilgrims from temple to temple. Most are sivaítas and are recognized for three horizontal stripes of ash on forehead. The followers of Vishnu, however, sport a "V". He looks scruffy, with her long hair, LF and threadbare beards saffron robes. To make matters worse, often complement their dress with tridents, brass bowls and shilom (pipe for smoking marijuana). The best known is one such Polalagri Naga Baba, an Indian who lives badly in a cottage next to the pyre and entertains tourists to lifting stones Iñaki Perurena but without hands, namely, using only his cock-crane.
In one of the ghats, stone platforms located on the stairs that are born in the Bagmati- burns a funeral pyre rises to the sky a column of smoke. A man moves the embers using a long rod. I is reluctant to take the camera and point, but finally I do it with stealth and, especially, with great respect. It is not an alibi, I know there is a point that momentum morbid, yet think of the fakir Polalagri, who makes a living with his phallic weightlifting a few meters from the funeral pyres and, truth, the repairs are dimmed one iota. On the other hand, Nobody warned us that we refrain from taking pictures. Regrettably, I think it's part of the show, a claim as any to attract tourists to the scenic liturgy of death, always equal, always different.
Next to the burning ghat where his father's body, the young leaves zero shave hair in mourning surrounded by friends and family. Then spend a week in Pashupatinath, living in a one-level house, and leave here dressed in white, the color of mourning for Hindus. But in these sacred waters not only throw the ashes of the dead. They also serve to celebrate the feast of Teej, during which the wives dusted saris with those who married and purified in the Bagmati provided there is a ritual that call for a bright future for their husbands.
The political whim son
As we walk through the temples under, Bijay recounts the details of a recent expedition to clean trash (remains of the expeditions) el Annapurna. A well-known Catalan politician helped fund the project economically, explains, in which one of his children collaborated, very fond of mountaineering. But the obscure object of desire of the famous expedition was, actually, the summit, and so put it to the Sherpas as seen in the high camps. He came to offer, tells us, 3.000 one dollar by guiding you to the summit of Annapurna, but always received a negative reply. The daring (while unconscious) Catalan mountaineer expecting a visit from his mother to join in celebrating the feat, but once you start to stream any sherpa want to risk your life at the whim of his son, canceled the trip. From that point, asegura Bijay, and during the rest of the issuance, the son of the famous Catalan politician "made his life on one side and the other, other '. Tantrums of a child Dad 5.000 meters. Al menos no hay constancia de que se le escuchara aquello tan español de «¿Pero usted sabe con quién está hablando?».
Comments (2)
Gonzalo Castro
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Not known to be practiced in Nepal so curious weightlifting (hehe)
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Mere.Glass
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One another… should be equal, at least, at the time of death
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