According to Govinda Tandon, member-secretary of PADT, each sadhus were offered dakshina (religious offerings) ranging from Rs 101 to Rs 5,001 as fixed by the Guthi. PADT said it spent Rs 821,000 to provide dakshina and other offerings such foods, shawls, rudrakcha garland, among others,  to the sadhus who had come from various parts of Nepal and India to celebrate the festival at the Pashupatinath Temple premises.

Tandon informed that around 400 sadhus had already left the temple premises Wednesday without taking any offerings.

“Few sadhus had come to our office seeking the dakshina, others had left without taking any offerings or informing us even,” said Tandon.  

In the past, PADT had fixed the sum of Rs 500 as the minimum amount to be given to all sadhus (regardless of their status) as dakshina. “But we had to decrease the amount as the number of sadhus increased this year,” said Tandon.

According to the PADT, some 5,000 sadhus visited the Pashupati Temple this year for Mahashivaratri festival. This year the festival was observed on February 17 when an estimated one million people visited the holy Pashupatinath Temple.

Like in the previous years, sadhus from Janakpur, Chitwan, Birgunj, Nepaljung, and the neighbouring nation India had attended the festival.