India’s Assistance for Pashupatinath Temple | 17 Jun 2020
Why in News
- Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Nepal for the construction of a sanitation facility at the Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu.
- This comes amid a raging border row between the two countries.
Key Points
- The facility will be constructed under the Nepal-Bharat Maitri: Development Partnership as a high impact community development scheme by India.
- Financial Assistance: India has pledged to extend financial assistance amounting to Rs. 2.33 crore.
- Implemented by: Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
- Norms and Completion: Norms to be laid out by the Government of Nepal and completion within 15 months.
- Earlier in 2018, Nepal-Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharmashala was also inaugurated in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Significance: This initiative is another milestone in strengthening cultural ties and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
Pashupatinath Temple
- Dedicated to Lord Shiva, Pashupatinath is one of the most important religious sites in Asia for devotees of Shiva.
- It is the largest temple complex in Nepal and stretches on both sides of the Bagmati River.
- Temples dedicated to several other Hindu and Buddhist deities surround the temple of Pashupatinath.
- Only Hindus are allowed through the gates of the main temple.
- It was conferred the status of a World Heritage Site in 1979 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).