Pashupatinath
Temple and sacred site (tirtha) in
Katmandu, Nepal. The temple is named
for its presiding deity, who is the god
Shivain his form as Pashupatinath, “the
Master of the Lord of Beasts.” This is a
considered an extremely powerful site,
and one of its charter myths connects it
to Kedarnath, a sacred site high in the
Himalayas. According to the story, the
five Pandavabrothers, who are the pro-
tagonists in the epic Mahabharata, are
making their final journey into the
Himalayas in search of a vision of
Shiva. They finally see him at a dis-
tance, but when they try to get closer,
Shiva takes the form of a bulland
begins running through the snow. The
bull burrows into a snow bank, and
when the Pandavas follow, they find the
body of the bull in the snow. The ridge
of rock that forms the Kedarnath linga
is considered to be the hump of this
bull. The bull’s head continues travel-
ing over the hills, eventually stopping
in Nepal, where it takes form as the
deity Pashupatinath.
Patala
A generic name for the realms of the
underworld, traditionally numbered at
seven to parallel the seven heavensthat
are believed to exist above the visible
world. These underworld realms are not
considered to be hellsbut rather planes
of existence other than the visible world,
populated by the Nagasand other non-
human beings.Pataliputra
Capital city of the Mauryan empire,
identified with modern Patna, the
capital of Bihar state. See also
Maurya dynasty.Patanjali
(2nd c. B.C.E.) Sanskrit grammarian
and author of the Mahabhashya
(“Great Commentary”) on Panini’s
Ashtadhyayi. Panini’s text was written
as a series of short phrases or aphorisms
intended to be a complete description of
the language in the briefest possible
space. Panini’s text was a marvel of
economy and was easy to memorize butPashupatinath
The Pashupatinath Temple in Katmandu, Nepal, is dedicated to the god Shiva
as “Master of the Lord of the Beasts.”