Kathmandu, January 21:

The eastern gate of the Pashupatinath temple today attracted a large number of devotees moving around because milk offered to the idol of Pashupatinath ran over the stairs leading to the gate due to the blockage of a pipeline.

A huge quantity of milk is offered at the main temple of Pashupatinath every day. It is emptied into the Bagmati river through a pipeline called Brahmanal. Any Hindu, who is taken to the Pashupatinath Aryaghat during last hours of life, is fed the liquid flowing through Brahmanal with belief that the liquid will take the person to heaven after death.

Many people slip while walking on the stairs because of the milk spill. Many gather near the staircase to see milk leaking out. Padma Raj Bharati, chief health assistant of the Shree Pashupatinath Aryaghat Service Centre, said: “Together with milk, honey, ghee and sugar are offered to the idol of Pashupatinath. Spilled milk has made the stairs quite slippery,” Bharati said.

“Besides this, people who are about to die are being deprived of liquid considered sacred because Brahmanal has been running dry,” Bharati said. There is a belief that people should put their feet on milk offered to the idol of Pashupatinath, he said.

Badri Kumar Thapa, a guard of the Pashupatinath Temple, said: “The flow of milk through the pipes has been blocked.” Thapa said that the Nepali Army had repaired some pipes when a similar incident occurred there over a year ago.

“But fixing the outer surface will not end the problem because the entire construction is on the verge of collapse. It has to be rebuilt in such a way that it will last long.” “We have realised the problem and are going to fix it soon,” said Shyam Shekhar Jha, director of the Pashupati Area Development Trust. He added that the trust will take out all stones from the stair to fix the leakage.