Religious Tourists Surge at Muktinath Temple

Mustang. Religious tourists have increased at the holy pilgrimage site Muktinath Temple for the last four days. While an average of four thousand visitors used to come daily, more than 15,000 people have been visiting the temple daily since Thursday.

Although it is a favorable season to visit the Muktinath Temple, the number of devotees is significantly increasing this year compared to previous years. Due to extreme heat in neighboring India, educational institutions are closed, leading to an increase in the number of Indian pilgrim tourists, informed Dinesh Bhusal, manager of the Muktinath Development Committee.

With the increase in heat in India, educational institutions have been closed for a month, which has led to an increase in Indian tourists here, he said. The increase in the number of visitors to Muktinath may also be due to the four-day public holiday in Nepal since last Thursday, said manager Bhusal.

Due to holidays in offices and schools/colleges, the arrival of domestic and Indian tourists has increased, he said. For the last four days, 10-12 thousand tourists have been entering Mustang daily via Myagdi, informed Santosh Basnyal, Information Officer and Police Inspector at the District Police Office.

As the number of visitors to Muktinath Temple increases, police and security personnel have been facilitating management, he said. According to him, Indian tourists are found to be visiting Muktinath to escape the heat.

With thousands of visitors in the temple area, managing smooth darshan and necessary security arrangements has become challenging, noted Police Inspector Basnyal. He informed that a police team is continuously deployed to ensure smooth darshan of Muktinath, control untoward activities, prevent theft, and maintain overall peace and security.

To facilitate devotee-friendly darshan management at Muktinath, 15 security personnel from the Area Police Office Muktinath, along with additional security forces from the District Police Office, have been deployed, he said. According to him, more tourists have been arriving via road and air routes in the last four days.

Although the capacity of the Muktinath Temple premises is around 500, the management of the temple and the security agencies are facing difficulties due to the presence of thousands of visitors at once, said Police Inspector Basnyal.

The development committee is currently facilitating darshan smoothly through three lines, informed manager Bhusal. According to him, about 70 percent of the visitors are Indian.

Due to the limited capacity of the Muktinath Temple premises, the committee is striving to increase the capacity in the coming days, mentioned manager Bhusal. He stated that four proposals submitted by the development committee for infrastructure construction have recently been approved by the Department of Archaeology, and plans for devotee-friendly infrastructure construction will be implemented soon.

Indian tourists, who have come to Muktinath to escape the 44-degree Celsius temperature in India, have expressed their delight at the natural beauty and unique geography here. Manager Bhusal of the temple management committee said that Indians have faith in this holy land, which is considered the abode of Lord Vishnu, hence they come here.

Dopa Sherpa from Kathmandu said she came to visit Muktinath due to the continuous four-day government holiday. She mentioned having to wait in line for an hour for darshan and expressed feeling a sense of peace upon reaching here.

The queue of vehicles carrying devotees has filled the bus park area in Ranipauwa bus park, Muktinath. More than a thousand vehicles are currently parked in the bus park, which has a capacity of about 200 vehicles. Police Inspector Basnyal said that traffic police have been deployed through the District Police Office to manage traffic.