Maha-shiva Ratri festival

Mahashivaratri festival Starts at 24th falgun 2072 (March 7, 2016 ) and  Ends at

Pashupati temple as seen during the night

  25th Falgun2072(March 8, 2016 ) .Maha Shivaratri  means the ‘Night of Lord Shiva’ and falls on the fourteenth day of the waning moon in February, or in March when hundreds of thousands of devotees arrive in Pashupatinath. Lord Shiva is one of the most popular and revered deities of the Hindus. Sadhus or ascetics arrive in hordes, some of them weeks before the actual festival and stay at the temple complex for long periods. It is said that Shiva had once taken the form of an ascetic. Shiva temples all over country are thronged by huge crowd of devotees on this day and night. The road to Pashupatinath is closed to traffic from early morning or the day before and people line up to enter.

Shiva, one of the Hindu trinities, is widely worshiped as the god of reproduction represented by a lingam (phallic symbol). People take holy dips in the Bagmati and lay offerings at the shrine where priests are busy chanting prayers and accepting offerings. Revelers spend the night around camp-fires, singing and chanting some of the many names of Shiva. Fasting devotees remain awake through the sacred night, many taking holy dips in the river and returning to the temple every three hours with offerings and prayer. Scantily clad sadhus are seen performing hatha yoga and other activities.

A large number of tourists arrive to watch the festival in progress as it is quite a spectacle and good photo opportunity. Although the temple itself is out of bounds for non-Hindus, the rest of the complex is open to everyone.

A Hindu ascetic, or Sadhu, smokes marijuana on a chillum outside the Bhavnath temple during the Mahashivratri festival in Junagadh district, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, February 20, 2012. Hindus across the country celebrate Mahashivratri, better known as the Lord Shiva's wedding anniversary.Some of the Sadhus and Devotees take Thandai, a drink which is made of cannabis and milk and the main highlights of Maha Shivratri is that the Hindu holy men smoke marijuana during the occasion, as they believe that Lord Shiva is fond of it.

A priest offers an evening prayer as devotees sing holy
 songs on the eve of Shivaratri

A Sadhu (Hindu holy man) smears ash onto his body at the
 Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu