Today was by far the best day I've had in Kathmandu. After yesterdays HUGE storm which basically turned all of Thamel into a mud bath, today was a gloriously hot sunny day and perfect for a bit of final sight seeing before the volunteers arrive tomorrow. I had only one place in mind, Pashupatinath.
Having had enough of being ripped off by taxi drivers I decided to walk the 5km to Pashupatinath, home to a beautiful temple but also the location of the Kathmandu Crematoria. That's right, I took a day to go and watch people be cremated, and my God it was incredible.
I managed to navigate my way there easy enough and it helps that almost all tourist attractions here are surrounded by shops and monkeys, so as soon as you start to see the sale of 'singing bowls' and Tibetan prayer flags, you know you're close. Having saved a fair amount of money by avoiding taxis, I decided to hire a guide, Sumit, and was really glad I did, without him I probably wouldn't have had a clue what was going on, plus, he was a bit of a babe. Not sorry.
Our first point of call was the Pashupatinath Temple, which non-Hindus are not allowed inside, but you can see a fair amount from the outside, up with the monkeys. Inside the grounds of the temple is a huge golden bull, which symbolises the vehicle of Shiva, and the gatekeeper for Shiva and Parvati. Inside the temple is a huge phallus statue, which is apparently a very common representation of Shiva.
From here we headed down to the water, where the real intrigue began. As we walked up to one of the many terraces looking down to the river, I was met with the first body. Well, to be fair, I couldn't see this one, it was quite far into the process. At this point we were to the left of a bridge crossing the river, the side where the 'normal' people are cremated. Over on the other side, for 5,000 rupees more, that's where the people of 'importance' are cremated. It's also the side where the bodies are washed but I'll get to that in a bit. So from where I was standing I could see about 10 little stone platforms at the side of the river. It was relatively early so there were only 2 that were in use. Sumit explained to me that once the bodies have been washed, they are brought over to a platform and put onto the wood. The family then walk around the body 3 times before the eldest male starts the fire. During this time the family do not cry or get upset, because Hindus believe that that stops the soul from leaving the body. The body is covered with straw and the fire is started in the mouth, because this is where the last breath left the body.
I should probably add in here that up until 1925, wives would jump into the fire with their dead husbands. If they weren't killed by the fire, then they were beaten to death by the family. And this was only made illegal less than 100 years ago. I've added it to my mental list of why it sucks to be a woman in Nepal, which I shall be blogging about soon.
According to Sumit it takes around 3 hours to cremate a man but 4 for a woman, because 'old Nepali women are very fat'. He did however add that I would only take 2, so that's nice to know. When the body has completely cremated, the ashes are thrown into the river, which much further down the line goes into the River Ganges.
After watching one of the Professional Burners (genuinely their actual title- you think your job sucks?) poke the fire for a little while we crossed over the bridge to watch the preparation of a body.
Now, I never intended to ever see a dead body, here or anywhere else, but it really was a very odd feeling. I didn't feel particular upset by this sight, having not known the person and they did seem very old, I just felt very strange, at the end of the day we are all made up of the same stuff. In Nepal they cremate the bodies very soon after death, so the man I saw had only been dead for no more than 24 hours tops. I think the most morbid part about this place is that they've decided to place Nepal's only government funded hospice right next to where the bodies are prepared. What's more, just round the corner is an old people's home, just so you can truly be reminded of what's coming to you. There's clearly nothing better than looking out of your window and thinking, "well, that's probably me next, someone get the fire ready".
So anyway, we stood on the riverbank and watched the preparation of the body. The man was lying on a special stone on the riverside and his clothes were removed before his family washed him. The feet are put into the river so that it can wash away the sins of the deceased, and the face is washed. The body is wrapped in white cloth and then a special orange cloth is put on top. I found out today that orange is the colour of sacrifice to both Hindus and Buddhists, which is why Buddhist monks wear orange robes. Once the body was covered they sprinkled red powder over it which symbolises purity and is used frequently in Hindu ceremonies, festivals and in daily life. From here they carry the body over to one of the platforms I mentioned above and start the cremating ceremony. I'm not going to lie, it was incredibly fascinating. My guide said it must be very different to what we do in the UK and I couldn't help but imagine what a nightmare it would be if we all started bathing our deceased in the Thames. I also started to think about how it would be to live in a country so focussed around tradition and religion, but I'll be writing about this later.
This is the only photo I'm going to upload because I don't think it's right to post photos of someone else's dead relative. On the right you can see 2 of the platforms in use.
We then headed up to the top of the nearby terraces where there are 11 temples, which represent the 11 wives of a guy who's name escapes me. Sumit decided to chime in that if he had a beautiful wife like me, then just 1 would be enough. What a charmer. We then walked a little higher and I got a great view over the whole of Pashupatinath. Sumit (or should we call him Chief Charmer) took this photo, and told me not to worry about falling over the side because he is superman and he would save me.
On the way back down to the river we saw some Sadhus, and I have seen a few of them out and about, but finally gave in to tourist temptation and got some photos (you have to give them money to do so). Sadhus are religious or holy men and there are 4 types: the naked ones, the hashish smoking ones, the entertainers who play music and the ones that I can't quite remember. Sadhus are considered dead to themselves and must remain celibate for their whole lives. To avoid temptation, the naked Sadhus cover themselves in the ashes of the dead in order to repulse women. If that doesn't work then I don't know what would. The hashish smoking sadhus are the only ones in Nepal who can smoke cannabis legally. So no to sex, but yes to drugs. Of course, here I am pictured with the naked, ash covered type.
After the sadhu excitement, we visited a small temple which is for the goddess Kali. Kali is usually pictured looking fierce as f***, because she is the goddess of destruction (in some forms. I've not got to grips completely with all of the gods, goddesses, incarnations etc). All around this small temple are carvings taken from the Kama Sutra, which have been put there to guard the main Pashupatinath temple from lightning. The logic behind this is that Kumari (remember her from before? Strange young child locked in a temple?) is the goddess of lightning, but because she is so young she doesn't know about sex so instead of destroying the main temple, she'll aim for this smaller one instead. All of this came from Sumit, so correct me if you know better.
Kali's temples are also a place for sacrifice, namely blood and alcohol. Many years ago it used to be that of the human sacrifice. They would trick a man into being sacrificed and then slit his throat in the shrine. They would then remove his little finger and then host a big dinner for men in the local area. The finger would be placed into the vegetables and whoever got the finger in their dinner would be the next sacrifice. These days they just go for animal sacrifices, which are one of each of the following: cow, sheep, duck, goat and chicken. Only male animals are sacrificed, because the females are needed for reproduction. According to Sumit, there is a really fair way of telling if an animal wants to be sacrificed...they simply chuck some water on it's head and if it shakes its head then it's ready. If it doesn't shake its head then they simply keep throwing water onto its head. Really fair that, really fair.
The final point of call was the old peoples home, which houses over 200 elderly Nepalis. Oh my, elderly Nepalis are incredibly sweet! They are so tiny and so wrinkly I just wanted to hug all of them. Sumit is clearly friends with the whole geriatric community and one lady told us that because he is Nepali and I am white then we would make a great couple. Well that Russian fortune teller did say I would marry a South Asian man, so maybe he wasn't so wrong after all.
At the end of the tour I politely declined the offer to go to tea and spent some more time back at the river watching the cremations. It seems like a very strange way to spend such a beautiful day but I can honestly say it's the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. There aren't really enough words.
Not too far from Pashupatinath is Boudhanath, home to Boudha Stupa, Nepal's largest Buddhist Stupa. Funnily enough I didn't fancy lunch at Pashupati and decided to go and bask in the Sun at the Stupa. I don't know too much about the stupa as there wasn't a guide or much information. What I can share with you however, is lots and lots of photos.
This is what happens when you ask someone who can't speak English to take your photo.
It was still lovely and sunny in the afternoon so I walked back to Thamel and had the longest, most thorough shower I've had in a long while. Now my hair smells much more like Herbal Essences and much less like the burning of dead bodies.
Lizzie x
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