Metraquilat Framed Photo by the Artist Gonzalo Botet, “Shadu in Peace”

Pashupatinath Temple is the oldest temple in Kathmandu. It was classified as a World Heritage site in 1979. It is a sprawling collection of temples, ashrams, images and inscriptions built over the centuries on the banks of the holy Bagmati river. A legend says that Shiva and Parvati took the form of antelopes in the forest on the east bank of the Bagmati river. Later, the gods caught up with him ang grabbed one of his horns, forcing him to revert to his god form. The broken horn was worshiped as a linga, but in the time it was buried and lost. Centuries later, a shepherd found one of his cows bathing the ground with milk and, after digging at the site, discovered the divine Pashupatinah linga.

On 8/03/2016 at 13:53 p.m., after a trip from Delhi to the Nepalese capital, I went to the maha Shivaratri festival at the Pashupatinath temple where more than a million devotees and thousand of Sadhus from India and Nepal congragate every year. This religious festival that marks the end of winter and the arrival of summer is known as “the great night of Shiva”. After hours of talk with Sadhus and observing their deep meditations in the crowd, I was able to portray one of the most outstanding character of such a spiritual event.

Gonzalo Botet.