Maha Shiva Ratri is the day of the Hindu God Shiva and literally means “great night of Shiva”.  It is usually celebrated on the month of February every year, according to the Hindu calendar. It is happening on 7^th Mar, 2016, the festival is celebrated with the offerings of Woodapple leaves, cold water and milk to Lord Shiva on the new moon day of Magh. It is celebrated with all-day fasting along chants of and all night long jagaran/vigil. Throughout the day, the devotees all around the Shiva temples chant the sacred Panchakshara mantra dedicated to Lord Shiva “Om Namah Shivaya” and Hindu temples across the country in Nepal, India are decorated with lights and colorful decorations. It is believed that the people who fast on this night and offer prayers to Lord Shiva bring good luck into their life.

Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu is one of the highly visited Temple on this day. This temple has four doors and it only opens on the day of Shivaratri for the devotees all around. Besides this, the tallest Shiva idol in the hill of Sanga is another attraction. And all the Shiva temples are seen crowded on this day. These are the ideal places to visit on this religious day.

Sanga, Kailashnath Mahadev Statue is the world’s tallest Shiva statue. It is situated in Sanga, the border of Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchwok districts in Nepal which is about 20 km from Kathmandu. The statue is 144 feet (44 m) high and made using copper, zinc, concrete and steel. According to the List of statues by height, Kailashnath Mahadev is the world’s fortieth-tallest statue, four places below the Statue of Liberty. The construction of the statue began in 2004 and was completed in 2011.

Kamal Jain and his company was the key contributor for the construction of this structure. Kamal Jain is an entrepreneur who established “Hilltake” in 1992, a company dealing with several products such as Water Tanks, in Nepal. This statue is also promoted as an official marvel of the Hilltake Group as well as Nepalese engineering.About 5,000 visitors come to see these statues on a weekday and significantly larger number of visitors visits on weekends, national holidays and Hindu festivals.

It is listed as a must visit place in many magazines and is recognized by the tourism board of Nepal. Due to a rise in the number of visitors, this statue has contributed for religious tourism in Nepal, both local and international. This has raised the economic activity of the local community and has brought significant impact in the development of nearby villages.

Photo by Hans Stieglitz (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Top photo by Mycoolclicks (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons