Pashupatinath temple authorities hope for help to conserve shrine

Every day, around 5,000 Indian pilgrims visit the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. Photo: AP

The red carpet being laid out for Mr. Modi in Nepal is a symbol of the high expectations among the people of Nepal from this visit.

At the Pashupatinath Temple, there is hope that the Indian government will help conserve the 17th century structure and refurbish its facilities and build a guesthouse or dharamshala for the approximately 5,000 Indian pilgrims visiting every day. There is hope of improve-ment in economic ties between the two countries.

Mr. Modi will be given a ceremonial “tika” of sandalwood paste, which comes from Mysore, and will be greeted by 108 “Batuks”, or monks, chanting Vedic hymns. His visit on the third Monday of the month of Shravan in the Hindu calendar is considered particularly auspicious, Mr. Modi has tweeted.

Asked what he wanted to tell Mr. Modi when he met him, Mr. Tandon a Pashupatinath Area Development Trust (PATD), official said, “Our biggest hope is that relations [between the two countries] can go back to the centuries-old closeness, and that Nepal can be a shareholder in India’s economic progress, a responsibility we hope Mr. Modi will take up.”