Pashupatinath Temple

A taxi from Thamel to Pashupatinath takes about 15 to 20 minutes in ordinary traffic. Bus routes 11, 22 and 30 stop at Gaushala Chowk, the main approach, about five minutes’ walk from the temple.

As of 24 September 2026, parking near the main entrance is limited, and long-distance pilgrim buses gather at Bankali parking. During major festivals road and pedestrian routes change substantially, as the Teej and Shrawan notices of 2026 show.

Plan a first visit around either the early-morning ritual period or the evening aarti. As of October 2026 there are two windows: the morning puja from 4:00 to 7:00 am and the evening aarti from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

The best times of day to visit Pashupatinath are the early-morning ritual period and the evening aarti. If you want smaller crowds, avoid Maha Shivaratri, Teej, Bala Chaturdashi and Shrawan Mondays, unless the festival is why you are going.

The Mondays of the Nepali month of Shrawan also bring special opening hours and queues: on Shrawan Mondays in 2026 the temple opened at 3:00 am.

As of 24 September 2026, foreign visitors to Pashupatinath pay an entry fee of NPR 1,000 (about USD 6.50) per day per entry, and Nepali and Indian nationals enter free. You need no permit to visit, but only Hindus may enter the main sanctum. No document or ID test is published for deciding who is Hindu, so nationality alone does not settle the question.

As of 24 September 2026, the published costs of a visit to Pashupatinath are the entry fee, optional pujas and nearby rooms. Dollar figures use Nepal Rastra Bank’s selling rate of NPR 153.49 per US dollar on 24 September 2026.

Staying around Gaushala, Pingalasthan or Battisputali saves you crossing central Kathmandu for pre-dawn worship or the evening aarti at Pashupatinath.

Anyone may visit the wider Pashupatinath complex, including the ghats, gardens and surrounding shrines, but only Hindus may enter the main sanctum. Visitors of all faiths may watch the Bagmati aarti from the eastern bank. As of 24 September 2026 no official accessibility guide for wheelchair users was found, so if you have limited mobility, contact the Pashupati Area Development Trust in advance and ask about step-free access.

The Bagmati at Pashupatinath is heavily polluted, according to peer-reviewed studies. A 2024 study found rivers in the Kathmandu Valley unfit for human use. A molecular study found substantial faecal contamination and potentially pathogenic bacteria downstream of Pashupatinath. Toilets and waste facilities at Bankali parking were found insufficient in January 2026. The condition of the river is set out under “Geography and environment”.

The published visitor rules do not require a guide or a group to visit Pashupatinath. You can arrive by bus or taxi, pay the entry fee at the site, and book any puja at the official counter. During major festivals, special routes, pre-dawn openings and queue arrangements apply.

From the main temple of Pashupatinath the sacred corridor continues across the river to Kirateshwor and the Shleshmantak forest, and upstream to Guhyeshwari. Pashupati is one of seven components of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage property.

A logical first visit to Pashupatinath runs from Gaushala to the outside of the main temple, down to the river ghats, and across to the eastern-bank viewpoint. From there, continue to the Pandhra Shivalaya and Kirateshwor, through the Shleshmantak and Mrigasthali forest, and on to Guhyeshwari. If you are not Hindu, plan the visit around the riverbank and the wider sacred landscape.

As of 24 September 2026, the hours published by the Pashupati Area Development Trust differ from one of its pages to another.

Check the trust’s notice or dashboard on the day of your visit, especially during festivals.

• Wear modest or traditional clothing. Shorts and sleeveless tops are not permitted on the temple grounds at Pashupatinath.
• Remove shoes before entering shrines.
• Leather items are restricted in the temple area.
• Avoid touching sacred objects unless invited.
• Photograph exterior areas, ghats and public spaces respectfully. Photography is prohibited inside the main sanctum and during religious ceremonies.
• Do not photograph cremations or mourners.
• Flying a drone needs prior written permission from the temple trust.
• Give funerals space, keep voices low at the ghats, and do not obstruct processions, priests or families.

As of 24 September 2026, the Nepal Tourism Board publishes a stricter rule: photography and cameras are prohibited within the temple complex. The temple trust’s own rules are the more recent and site-specific of the two, but obey signs and guards where they are stricter.

Pashupatinath has a puja booking office and round-the-clock ghat services. In January 2026 the Kathmandu Post found insufficient toilets and waste facilities at Bankali parking. New toilets and shower rooms were being built, and temporary facilities are added during festivals.

• The eastern-bank terraces, where non-Hindus can watch the aarti and see the main temple.
• The Pandhra Shivalaya, the row of fifteen Shiva temples.
• The Shleshmantak and Mrigasthali forest, a sacred grove.
• The 7th-century Vishnu image in the Ram Temple and the 7th-century Durga image at Bankali.

According to traditions associated with the Skanda Purana, a divine cow repeatedly poured milk over the place where the linga of Pashupatinath lay hidden, which led to its revelation. Shiva’s manifestation as Pashupati, and the miraculous revelation of the linga, are held to begin the sacred history of Pashupatinath.

Local traditions associate the Pashupati and Mrigasthali landscape with Shiva taking the form of an animal, a deer, and the Shleshmantak and Mrigasthali forest beside the temples belongs to this story and remains a sacred grove. Local tradition also links Kirateshwor, a Shiva shrine at Pashupatinath, with Arjuna’s meditation to obtain the Pashupatastra, Shiva’s weapon.

The Guhyeshwari shrine at Pashupatinath represents Shakta worship, the worship of the goddess as supreme power, and the Sati tradition. The Gorakhnath shrine, built in the 18th century, commemorates the Nath tradition of yogis. The Ram Temple at Ramghat holds a 7th-century Vishnu image, and the Jayabageshwori shrine houses Bageshwori, or Saraswati.

The Nepal Tourism Board says chronicles show a shrine at Pashupatinath before about 400 CE. The temple trust attributes a first structured temple of the Licchavi period to King Supushpa Dev in the 5th century, although its monument page says only that the temple is “said” to have been built by Supuspdev, and acknowledges repeated rebuilding. The founder and date of the earliest temple at Pashupatinath therefore remain uncertain in the sources.

A Bengal Sultanate raid in the 14th century is traditionally associated with destruction at Pashupatinath and damage to the linga. One account dates the raid to 1346, while another, drawing on the work of the scholar Govinda Tandon, gives 1349. The sources do not settle which date is correct.

The temple precinct and pilgrimage buildings at Pashupatinath expanded in the Malla period, from the 13th to the 18th century. The present main temple was built in 1697 CE during the reign of King Bhupalendra Malla of the Malla kingdom of Kantipur. The Gorakhnath shrine dates from the 18th century. The Pandhra Shivalaya, a row of fifteen small Shiva temples on the eastern bank, is attributed to the period of Jung Bahadur Rana.

Nepal’s Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 2013 BS (1956), is the principal national law protecting the monuments of Pashupatinath. The Pashupati Area Development Trust was founded in 2043 BS (1986 or 1987). Its statute, the Pashupati Area Development Trust Act, 2044 BS, was promulgated on 29 Shrawan 2044 and makes the Trust an autonomous corporate body. The Act establishes a governing council chaired by the minister responsible for culture and tourism, and empowers the council to approve the master plan and annual plans.

UNESCO inscribed the Kathmandu Valley, including the Pashupati Monument Zone, on the World Heritage List in 1979. Pashupatinath is one of seven components of the serial Kathmandu Valley World Heritage property and has no separate World Heritage listing of its own. The Kathmandu Valley property was on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger from 2003 to 2007, a listing that applied to the whole property, and was removed after management measures.

At its 2026 session UNESCO recorded that the new Pashupati Protected Monument Zone Master Plan had not been formally adopted. UNESCO required the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS to review the master plan before adoption, before implementation and before an existing suspension on interventions is lifted.

The Gorkha earthquake of 25 April 2015 damaged monuments across the Kathmandu Valley and structures in the wider Pashupati area, while the main shrine proved comparatively resilient. Engineering research studied damaged monuments in the Pashupati area such as the Pancha Deval complex. The claim that Pashupatinath was undamaged in 2015 is a simplification: the Pancha Deval complex was damaged, and liquefiable strata were later identified at the site.

Pashupatinath was closed to ordinary devotees from 24 March to 16 December 2020. Lost offerings were estimated at about NPR 20 million a month, about NPR 180 million over the nine months, and flower sellers and ritual-goods merchants near the temple also lost income. A second closure ran from 23 April to 10 September 2021, when a restricted reopening began with limits on numbers and a mask requirement. Further Omicron restrictions followed in early 2022.

Fees, routes and the best time to go are under “Planning a visit to Pashupatinath”.

The buildings around the main temple at Pashupatinath span the Licchavi, Malla, Rana and modern periods.

Three different areas are called “Pashupati”, and each figure below describes a different boundary. The UNESCO World Heritage component covers 83.55 ha with an 11.55 ha buffer. The administrative Pashupati Area covers about 264 ha, and an earlier published figure was about 246 ha.

From the western approach at Gaushala, you pass the Jayabageshwori and Bankali area before reaching the main temple on the west bank of the Bagmati. Below the main temple lie Aryaghat and the other cremation and ritual ghats. Across the river, the eastern-bank terraces and the Pandhra Shivalaya give non-Hindu visitors their view of the main temple and the aarti.

Kirateshwor stands beyond, on a hillock across the Bagmati by one account, or on the east bank between Pashupati and Guhyeshwari by another. The Shleshmantak and Mrigasthali forest follows, and the Guhyeshwari precinct lies upstream to the north-east.

Structural studies after 2015 of buildings in the Pashupati area found vulnerabilities in wood and masonry monuments, including deteriorated members and joints, local site effects and ground conditions. Research in Natural Hazards Review identified potentially liquefiable strata at the Pashupati site, although no liquefaction was observed in the field survey after 2015. UNESCO monitoring of the Kathmandu Valley property flags transport and infrastructure pressure, management planning, water infrastructure and earthquake vulnerability. UNESCO’s recovery work across the valley emphasises traditional materials and craft skills, disaster preparedness and impact assessment.

The published schedule for 24 September 2026 listed these rituals at Pashupatinath:

Three priests perform the Bagmati aarti, offering light from ghee lamps with conch, bells, incense, devotional music and ritual gestures. The Bagmati aarti is performed on the river bank and can be watched by visitors of all faiths from the eastern side.

Aryaghat at Pashupatinath is a major Hindu cremation ghat on the Bagmati, and in Hindu belief last rites performed there carry the hope that the dead attain moksha. Kiryaputri (last-rite) services run around the clock. Nepal’s first functioning modern electric crematorium opened at Pashupati in 2016. Research published in Mortality examines how the electric crematorium interacts with Hindu funerary belief and environmental policy.

You book a puja at Pashupatinath at the official puja counter or through the online booking system, which lists Rudrabhishek, Mahabhishek and Laghurudra among the paid rituals. As of September 2026, simpler Panchamrit offerings begin in the low thousands of NPR, and Rudrabhishek and Laghurudra cost substantially more. Pujas at Pashupatinath are optional services, separate from the entry fee.

On 22 June 2025 Nepal’s Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority filed a corruption case against 16 people, including the trust’s then member-secretary. The case alleges that more than NPR 103.3 million was embezzled through inflated costs and procurement violations in the electric crematorium project. The crematorium case is an allegation, and no final ruling was found up to 24 September 2026.

In March 2025 the Patan High Court invalidated an agreement under which the temple trust and Kathmandu Metropolitan City sought to manage the Pashupati Gaushala Dharamshala, allowing the Marwadi Sewa Samiti to resume running it. Also in 2025, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt to bar nude Naga sadhus from Pashupati during Shivaratri.

Anti-corruption authorities charged three trust officials in October 2023 over alleged misuse of gold for a covering on the main linga. The Special Court acquitted all three in April 2024.

• 27 January 2026: the Kathmandu Post reported plastic, food waste and sanitation problems at Bankali parking. Cleaning shifts, staff, bins and toilet and shower facilities were being added, and the heritage status of the parking area restricts hard paving and concrete.
• 23 April to 10 September 2021: second COVID-19 closure, with a restricted reopening.
• 24 March to 16 December 2020: first COVID-19 closure, with an estimated NPR 180 million in lost offerings.
• 25 April 2015: the Gorkha earthquake damaged structures in the wider Pashupati area, while the main shrine proved comparatively resilient.

A 2024 peer-reviewed study concluded that rivers in the Kathmandu Valley are highly polluted and unfit for human use. The same study found the downstream Bagmati severely hypoxic, meaning very low in oxygen, and biologically degraded. A molecular study found substantial faecal contamination and potentially pathogenic bacteria downstream of Pashupatinath.

The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project describes the urban river as receiving faecal contamination, untreated wastewater and solid waste, with very low flows after dry-season extraction. A 2026 assessment by the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation notes deteriorating water quality near Pashupati and other ritual sites as population and wastewater grow.

Non-Hindus may visit the wider Pashupatinath complex, including the ghats, gardens and surrounding shrines, but only Hindus may enter the main sanctum. Visitors of all faiths may watch the Bagmati aarti from the eastern bank.

As of 24 September 2026, the entry fee for Pashupatinath is NPR 1,000 per day per entry for foreign nationals, including SAARC nationals other than Indians, and Chinese nationals. Nepali and Indian nationals enter free.

Yes, Indian nationals enter Pashupatinath free, as of 24 September 2026. Only Hindus, of any nationality, may enter the main sanctum.

No permit is needed to visit Pashupatinath, and no document or ID test is published for deciding who may enter the sanctum. Nepal visa rules and any ID checked at the fee counter are not in the sources used here.

Pashupatinath is listed as open from 4:00 am to 9:00 pm daily, as of 24 September 2026. Another official page says the main gates close around 2:00 pm and reopen for the evening aarti, so check the day’s notice before you go.

As of October 2026 the evening aarti at Pashupatinath runs from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Festival days change the hours, so check the day’s notice before you go.

Yes, visitors of all faiths may watch the Bagmati aarti at Pashupatinath from the eastern bank of the river. Three priests perform it with ghee lamps, conch, bells and incense.

A taxi from Thamel to Pashupatinath takes about 15 to 20 minutes in ordinary traffic. Bus routes 11, 22 and 30 stop at Gaushala, about a five-minute walk from Pashupatinath.

Parking near the main entrance of Pashupatinath is limited, as of 24 September 2026. Long-distance pilgrim buses use Bankali parking, where sanitation was reported as insufficient in January 2026.

Respectful photography of exterior areas, ghats and public spaces is allowed, but not inside the main sanctum or during religious ceremonies. Flying a drone needs prior written permission from the temple trust, and the Nepal Tourism Board publishes a stricter photography rule, so follow signs and guards on site.

Wear modest or traditional clothing to Pashupatinath. Shorts and sleeveless tops are not permitted on the temple grounds. Remove shoes before entering shrines, and leave leather items behind.

Do not photograph cremations or mourners at Pashupatinath, and keep voices low at the ghats. Give funerals space and do not obstruct processions, priests or families.

Pujas at Pashupatinath are booked at the official puja counter or through the online booking system, which lists Rudrabhishek, Mahabhishek and Laghurudra. As of September 2026, simple Panchamrit offerings begin in the low thousands of NPR, and larger pujas cost substantially more.

Plan a first visit around the early-morning ritual period or the evening aarti. As of October 2026 the morning puja runs from 4:00 to 7:00 am and the evening aarti from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

The best times to visit Pashupatinath are the early-morning ritual period and the evening aarti. Avoid Maha Shivaratri, Teej, Bala Chaturdashi and Shrawan Mondays unless you are going for the festival.

Maha Shivaratri fell on 15 February in 2026, and the date for 2027 is not yet in the sources used here. More than one million people visited the Pashupati area during Maha Shivaratri 2025, and in 2026 all four main gates opened at 2:00 am.

Rooms around Gaushala cost about NPR 2,600 to 3,000 a night in September 2026, and mid-range rooms about 500 m from Pashupatinath about NPR 4,500 to 6,500. Staying near Gaushala, Pingalasthan or Battisputali avoids crossing central Kathmandu for early worship.

As of 24 September 2026, no official accessibility guide for Pashupatinath was found, so wheelchair users should contact the temple trust in advance. Only Hindus may enter the main sanctum, and the wider complex is open to all.

The present main temple at Pashupatinath was built in 1697 under King Bhupalendra Malla of Kantipur. The temple trust attributes the first structured temple to King Supushpa Dev in the 5th century, while the Nepal Tourism Board says chronicles show a shrine before about 400 CE.

Pashupatinath is one of seven components of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage property, inscribed in 1979, and has no separate listing of its own. The UNESCO component covers 83.55 ha with an 11.55 ha buffer.

The main Pashupatinath temple proved comparatively resilient in the earthquake of 25 April 2015, but structures in the wider Pashupati area, such as the Pancha Deval complex, were damaged. Later research identified potentially liquefiable strata at the site.

Aryaghat at Pashupatinath is a Hindu cremation ghat on the Bagmati, where in Hindu belief last rites carry the hope that the dead attain moksha. Last-rite services run around the clock, and photography of ceremonies is prohibited.

No. A 2024 peer-reviewed study found rivers in the Kathmandu Valley highly polluted and unfit for human use, and a molecular study found faecal contamination downstream of Pashupatinath.