Pashupatinath Shiva temple, Kathmandu

While in Kathmandu, we visited one of the most famous Shiva temple in the world, Pashupitanath. Lord Shiva goes by many names, and Pashupati is one of them. The temple is located along the banks of a river and is where most of the Hindus are cremated in Kathmandu. This first photo is some cremations in progress. Pretty heavy.
Cremation in Hinduism is the last ritual of 16 performed throughout a person's life and it encourages the newly disembodies spirit to pass more easily into the next world or incarnation. The ashes are then deposited into the river, which is also symbolic as hindus believe we are composed of five elements ( fire, water, earth, air and space/ether).
Here's a body with a mourner being prepared for cremation:
It was quite sprawling and lots of small, medium and large shrines. Here's an image of just a portion of the various pagodas:
Here's one of the many shrines framing a worshiper:
This next photo doesn't quite capture the awesomeness of seeing it in person--it's a series of identical shrines and when you look down the openings, it looks like a series of mirrors. The item in the center of the shrine is called a lingam and is a representation of lord Shiva that is used for worship. It's a phallic symbol depicting the male/female oneness.
There were many Sadhus that at this temple. This is a far-away photo because apparently there are some "poser" Sadhus that hang out and earn their money from tourists who take photos of them. A Sadhu is a hindu holy person who dedicate their lives to pursuing the fourth and final stage of Hindu life through meditation and dedication to Brahman.
Here are some nice paintings of various hindu deities along one of the walls in the temple. There were also lots of monkeys:
The legend of the temple (according to Wikipedia) is as follows: Lord Shiva grew tired of his palace atop Mt. Kailash and so went in search of a place where he could escape to. He discovered Kathmandu Valley and, without telling anyone, he ran away from his palace and came to live in the Valley. He gained great fame there as Pashupati, Lord of the Animals, before the other gods discovered his hiding place and came to fetch him. He disguised himself as a majestic deer and would not help the other gods when they asked for his help. When Shiva did not yield to their pleas, they planned to use force. God Vishnu grabbed him by his horns and they shattered into pieces. Vishnu established a temple and used the broken horns to form a linga on the bank of the Bagmati River. As time went by, the temple was buried and forgotten. Then a cow was known to have secretly sprinkled her milk over the mound. Apparently, when the cow herders dug around the spot, they found the lost lingas and again built a temple in reverence.
There is now a herd of deer here to remember the deer form of Shiva's life:
And Mariah and I enjoying the view of Kathmandu from the top of the hill