Pashupatinath is Nepal's holiest Hindu site. To be cremated at the ghat here means to escape the death and rebirth cycle. Stephanie, Peggy and I made a trip out there this morning to see this beautiful place.
For me, this would be my first return since the 'monkey incident' last year. I was actually pretty nervous. I was 'attacked' by a very deranged and aggressive monkey last year when I was visiting Pashupatinath with Katie. My blog followers and friends will remember that this was a fairly traumatizing and humiliating incident where I just yelled for Katie's help until she came and got rid of the monkey for me. This was a big step for me to go back to the scene.
This is where the monkey was sitting before it came after me - right on top of this arch!
After paying our 500 Nepali rupees (the tourist price for entry), we made it through unscathed! I had Peggy's umbrella in hand just in case but all was well. There were so many monkeys!
Last year, I did not see any cremations at the ghat. This year, a body of a woman was being prepared on the cremation site by the Bagmati River by her family and friends. Two other bodies were almost completely burned on the two pyres next to her. It was very unnerving and we felt that maybe we were intruding on a very private moment for these people. A guide assured us that this was not the case. He told us about what an hour it is for a person to be cremated here because it is such a holy place. It still felt strange. He also told us about another type of cremation called a "sky cremation" where bodies are cut up and fed to birds that take the body up to the sky. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
I am glad that I returned to this holy place to get over my fear and to see this beautiful place again.
