Muktinath Temple

Situated at the base of the Thorong La Mountain Pass, Muktinath Temple is a well renowned sacred place for both Hindus and Buddhists. It is one of the most ancient temples of the God Vishnu and the Vaishnava tradition in Nepal. The shrine is considered as one of the eight sacred places known as Swayam Vyakta Ksetras (the other seven being Srirangam, Srimushnam, Tirupati, Naimisharanya, Totadri, Pushkar and Badrinath), as well as one of the 108 Divya Desam, or holy places of worship of Lord Vishnu.

Popular among Hindus as Mukti Kshetra, which literally means the “place of salvation”; it is one of the most ancient temples of the God Vishnu and the Vaishnava tradition in Nepal. The temple is small and houses a human sized golden statue of Vishnu as Shri Mukti Narayana. It also houses bronze images of Bhoodevi (the Earth-goddess form of Lakshmi), the goddesses Saraswati and Janaki (Sita), Garuda (the mount of Vishnu), Lava-Kusa (the sons of Rama and Sita) and the Sapta Rishis (Seven Sages created by Lord Brahma). There is an old Buddhist monk present in the temple and worship is conducted by Buddhist nuns.

Buddhists call the temple as Muktinath Chumming Gyatsa, which in Tibetan means 'Hundred Waters'. It is considered as a sacred place of the Dakinis goddesses known as Sky Dancers, and also one of the 24 celebrated Tantric places. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition states that Guru Rimpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, meditated here on his way to Tibet.

Located on a picturesque location, the temple has a pagoda style design dedicated to Lord Vishnu. With 108 water spouts standing behind the temple, forming the shape of cow heads, there is a self-imposed feeling you get when you look at the temple. Muktinath draws a lot of visitors during the festival season of Janaipurnima.

Best time to visit
Although the temple can be visited any time of the year, since the place lies in one of the Himalayan regions of Nepal, visitors might have to face the harsh weather if they accidentally get there on the wrong season. So the best time to visit Muktinath is, either from March to May or September to October.