John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series NEPAL |
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129-243 |
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John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series NEPAL |
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129-243 |
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| 229. Aside from traders and trekkers, the other important group using the trails are pilgrims heading for the shrines at Muktinath. Some use the trail along the Kaligandaki, others follow the Marsyangdi and climb over the Thorung La: still others travel from the north through Mustang. (Temple at Muktinanth) |
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| 230. Though Muktinath is one of the eight most sacred Hindu shrines, Buddhism is the dominant faith in the high country, with obvious links to Tibetan imagery and practice. (In a gompa at Manang) |
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| 231. Trekkers are reminded continually of the faith of those who live here, for the trail in places is lined with devotional structures. (Between Thorung La and Muktinath) |
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| 232. Chortens like these are miniaturised versions of the bell-shaped stupas erected in major centres to house sacred relics. They are always approached on the left (by tourists as well as pilgrims) and encircled following a clockwise motion. |
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| 233. In addition, since the highest mountain peaks are believed to be the throne room of the gods, the herders who visit the highest slopes in summer build cairns (deorali or piles of stones) in their honour. Everyone using the route is expected to add a stone. (Near Pisang) |
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| 234. Many such walls are formed of slabs on which prayers have been inscribed. Adding a prayer stone to the collection is considered an act of merit, and walking past them (on the left!) is deemed equivalent to intoning the prayers inscribed on them. |
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| 235. Many villages have their own temple (or gompa), which will be adorned with numerous images of Buddha. (At Manang) |
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| 236. They are often richly decorated and also have shelves on their walls to store sacred texts. (At Pisang) |
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| 237. The outside walls of the gompa are also likely to house a line of prayer wheels. When they are rotated by wind or water, or by human hand (always clockwise), the prayers written on rolls of paper inside the cylinder are automatically offered again and again: so too is the sacred mantra inscribed on the outside: “Om mani, padme hum”. (Near Bagarchhap) |
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| 238. The way in which Buddhism and Hinduism merge tolerantly in Nepal is obvious at Muktinath, which is a sacred place of pilgrimage for Hindus and Buddhists, from India and Tibet as well as Nepal. |
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| 239. The central temple was built in 1815 in the pagoda style of the Kathmandu valley. It was dedicated to the Lord of Salvation (Mukti Nath), alias Lord Vishnu or Chenrezig, as Buddhists name him. |
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| 240. There are several other temples here, but this one (dedicated to Shiva and his consort Parvati) is the only one that is purely Hindu. It is surrounded by four small temples -- dedicated to Vishnu, Krishna, Rama and Ganesh. |
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| 241. Water from the streams that emerge from the rocks here supplies 108 “springs” (actually spouts in the wall of a temple courtyard). They are considered sacred and Hindu pilgrims come here to bathe -- believing that this holy water can wash away negative karma. |
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| 242. The old Sangdo Gompa collapsed 30 or more years ago, but it has been replaced, and there are older Buddhist structures within the boundary of the Muktinath complex. |
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| 243. They include the Fire Gompa, for the status of Muktinath as a holy place is due in large part to a flame fed by natural gas. Water springs from the same rock fissure as the gas, and it is believed by both Buddhists and Hindus that the fact that water burns here miraculously -- in a union of opposing elements -- is evidence of the power of God. |
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