Sacred Sites in Nepal

Sacred Sites in Nepal

Locked between the snow peaks of the Himalayas and the seething Ganges plain, Nepal has long been home to wandering ascetics and tantric yogis. Consequently, the country has a wealth of sacred sites:

* Lumbini is the sacred site of the Buddha Shakyamuni's birth. Today it a small village, located 27 km (17 mi) from Sunauli on the Indo-Nepal border.

* Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu.

* Parping in the Kathmandu Valley is the site of several sacred caves associated with Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism.

* Haleshi (often known by the Tibetan name of Maratika) in Eastern Nepal is the site of a mountain cave where Padmasambhava attained a state beyond life and death.

* Muktinath between the upper valley of the Kali Gandaki and the Annapurna Range, this pilgrimage objective has 108 fountains where the faithful bathe and perpetual flames fed by natural gas. This region is also famous for Shaligrams -- fossil ammonites said to be a manifestation of the god Vishnu.

* Pashupatinath. Hindu temples and cremation ghats on the Bagmati River in Kathmandu. The main areas are closed to non-Hindus.

* Dakshinkali. Hindu temple complex south of Kathmandu on the Bagmati River where it enters a gorge through the Mahabharat Range.

* Janaki Mandir - A temple complex in the city Janakpur in the eastern Terai marking where semi-divine figure Sita was born and raised, and married Rama, hero of the epic Ramayana. A seven-day festival celebrates Sita's birth at the end of April/beginning of May. Probably the exact dates vary from year to year, being set astrologically.