Panch Deval
The Social Welfare Centre Briddhashram is a charitable home for the destitute elderly in Pashupatinath. I have visited on several occasions and have been made very welcome by the residents and those who care for them. It is more commonly known as Panch Deval (hindu, five temples) being located in an old temple complex.
Pashupatinath straddles the holy Bagmati River on the outskirts of Kathmandu in Nepal. It is famous for its connections with Lord Shiva, one of the Hindu Deity, who took the form of a deer and lived in the forest close by. It’s not just Nepal’s holiest Shiva site but throughout the lndian sub-continent as well. The Bagmati River eventually joins the Holy Ganges and is Nepal’s most sacred river. The Temple, built in Newari Pagoda style, is Hindu’s largest Shiva temple and can be seen in the centre of the first two photographs in the gallery.
The majority of the residents are women, not surprisingly perhaps as they generally tend to live longer than men. Also, in poorer families, mothers can be cast out of the home after the death of the father with some believing they are “witches” who have some way contributed to the husband’s demise. Alternately, it’s because the family are so poor they cannot afford to feed them.
Close by are the burning Ghats where bodies are cremated on the funeral pyres throughout the day and night, the smoke from which and the acrid smell at times pervades the open spaces of the home. On those pyres the home’s residents will finish their life’s journey to the better place they know awaits them. It is believed that those who die in Pashupatinath Temple are reborn as human, regardless of any misconduct during their lives that might worsen their kama. The residents of Panch Deval feel privileged and very fortunate to spend and end their days there.
Those who are well and free of pain and dimentia were very jovial and friendly and I enjoyed my time amongst them.
