DoA to renovate Pashupati Temple
Five months after main priests of the Pashupatinath temple called on the government to save the temple from invading rats and cockroaches by renovating it, the Department of Archaeology (DoA) has decided to renovate the temple in a bid to keep at bay the rodents and the insects.
However, the mice and cockroach nuisance is part of a larger and more serious problem the temple has been facing for long. According to experts, the centuries-old temple is on the verge of collapse and since it has not been renovated for years, it has become pestiferous, attracting insects and other animals like rats.
Waking up to the situation at hand, the DoA has taken an initiative to renovate the temple under the Culture Ministry’s directives.
A committee formed last year as per a Supreme Court ruling to examine the overall problems in the temple, had, three months ago, recommended the Culture Ministry carry out renovation work and prepare an inventory of the internal structure of the temple. The DoA initiative is part of the same recommendation.
According to Bishnu Raj Karki, the DoA chief, his department has decided to give a nod to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) to carry out the renovation work.
“After consulting experts and holding talks with all important stakeholders, we have come to the conclusion that Pashupati needs immediate renovation,” he said, adding that the DoA would write a letter ganting permission to the PADT to carry out the renovation work.
In lack of proper care and timely renovation, a number of important undocumented architfacts and structures of the inner temple are in danger.
The temple, which is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, was built in 516 BS by Mandev and has been renovated only twice so far. The main temple was renovated once by king Bhupalendra Malla in 1365, and later by prime minister Chandra Shumsher Janga Bahadur Rana.
According to PADT Treasurer Narottam Vaidya, the renovation carried out by Chandra Shumsher was no match to the work carried out by the Malla king.
Bhupalendra Malla and his mother lived in the temple for six months at a stretch while the temple was being renovated, Vaidya said.
The PADT is mulling a committee that will submit a technical report on how the temple could be given a facelift.
The committee, according to Vaidya, will comprise representatives of the DoA as well. A decision to this effect was taken four days ago in a meeting held among the DoA, the PADT and Bhattas, Bhandaris, Bishet and Rairakami—the four major religious stakeholders directly associated with the temple’s spiritual ownership.
“We are mulling a technical committee to carry out a study of the temple and the scope of its renovation,” Vaidya said.
Posted on: 2011-10-25 08:20
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